Joshua tree wildflowers: mojave desert

March 18th is a little early in the season for wildflowers, but that made it more fun to hunt them out. Joshua Tree is a large national park, with the northern part classified as Mojave Desert and the warmer southern part Colorado Desert. As predicted by the park ranger, most of the flowers were found on a hike in southern part of the park (the oasis near Cottonwood). But first here are my favorites of the Mojave Desert. The first one was comically microscopic. And the orange bush made me stop in my tracks, and while there I found the lupine. A bonus prize! (click on photos to make them larger)