Archive All Issues March 2025

WILDFLOWERS 2025

"The amen of nature is always a flower." Oliver Wendell Holmes wasn't thinking of the Sonoran Desert when he penned those words, but nowhere is his sentiment more profound. There's something extra special about seeing poppies, penstemons and larkspurs growing among the saguaros, prickly pears and ocotillos. Our desert landscape is remarkable all year round, but in March, it's even more so.

Featured in the March 2025 Issue of Arizona Highways

BY: Lisa Altomare,Jeff Kida

A PORTFOLIO EDITED BY LISA ALTOMARE AND JEFF KIDA

Mexican goldpoppies fill a clearing beneath the Santa Catalina Mountains at Catalina State Park, north of Tucson. This view is from one of the park's many hiking trails. GURINDER SINGH

LEFT: Desert globemallows, brittlebushes and owl's clover form a multicolored tapestry around saguaros at Tonto National Monument, east of the Phoenix area. Because of its varied elevation, the monument is home to numerous desert plant species. PAUL GILL

RIGHT: Owl's clover populates a meadow near the sandstone cliffs of the Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness, near Sedona. The meadow is near Bear Mountain, one of Red Rock Country's most scenic hiking destinations. PAUL GILL

A stately organ pipe cactus rises from a sea of Mexican goldpoppies and lupines at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, along Arizona's border with Mexico. The monument covers more than 500 square miles, and 95 percent of that acreage is a federal wilderness area. GEORGE H.H. HUEY