[MUSIC PLAYS] CHRISTIAN BAKER: This aired wasted is the hottest place on earth. Boasting annual temperatures in excess of 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Salt and rock stretch on into oblivion. But beneath the sun scorched sands, lies a sleeping beauty. When the time is right, it will rise up in an act of defiance against the inhospitable terrain. And it’s not alone. There are others, thousands upon thousands of others. Together, they prove that, even in the most hostile of climates, there is still the potential for a grand of fluorescence. A super bloom.

ALAN VAN VALKENBURG: I’m amazed at what can survive here. I’ve been a park ranger here for about 25 years. I’ve seen three of these super blooms. 1998 was my first one, and then 2005 was the next one. And then this year, of course.

CHRISTIAN BAKER: Super bloom is the unofficial term used to describe an above average bloom of desert wildflowers. They’re impossible to predict as they are completely reliant on an overabundance of rain, a scarce commodity in death valley. Despite a four year long drought that has been plaguing southern California, the heavy winter rain in Death Valley proved sufficient to trigger this super bloom.

ALAN VAN VALKENBURG: A lot of desert plants have some sort of protection. This one here stinks. Not the flowers, but the leaves themselves. And it smells like the rankest armpits. This is a Death Valley sage we’re seeing here growing out of the rocks. When it’s in bloom, it has these fuzzy cowlicks on the plants so and they look like little lambs tails. This flower here, this is one of my favorites. This mysterious white flower is called gravel ghost. Which, I think, is the perfect death valley wildflower name.

Here’s an interesting one. This is a rock mimulus or sometimes called Death Valley monkey flower. It only grows in cracks in the rocks only in death valley, only in a few canyons in Death Valley. So that’s a rare treat, to get to see them.

An average year, here in Death Valley, for rainfall is a little less than two inches, which is really dry. We are the driest place in the nation. You need a slow, drenching rains, not one of those summer thunderstorms that quickly sweep away. When enough rain comes along, soaking deep into the soil, all these hillsides that are normally just barren, in a super bloom, almost everything is covered with flowers.

CHRISTIAN BAKER: Seeds may lie dormant for years, or even decades, waiting for enough rain to support their life cycle. Fortunately, they come equipped with a natural insurance policy, a protective coating which prevents them from sprouting prematurely. This coating may be wax, protein, or chemical based, and requires a generous amount of water to fully erode it before allowing the seed to properly germinate.

[RAINFALL]

ALAN VAN VALKENBURG: Things are pushed right to the edge of what they can tolerate here. That’s the celebration of life here in Death Valley– that’s life at its peak.

CHRISTIAN BAKER: For Science Friday, I’m Christian Baker.

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Credits

Produced and Directed by Christian Baker
Edited by Brian McAllister
Music by Audio Network