Desert Mallow Blossoms

Desert Mallow Blossoms
Orange desert mallow blossoms, Death Valley National Park

Desert Mallow Blossoms. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Orange desert mallow blossoms, Death Valley National Park.

These orange desert mallows are among my favorite desert flowers. It seems to me that they are often somewhat unobtrusive, but the will suddenly burst forth with a bush-full of bright orange color. The blooms are lovely, and they remind me a bit of small California golden poppies.

Although I sometimes don’t recall exactly where I photographed such things, my recollection in this case is that I photographed them in a quiet desert canyon starting at the top of a large alluvial fan, where we had gone to eat lunch the first day we arrived in Death Valley on our early April visit. After hours of driving (actually a couple of days of traveling!) it was good to stop and sit in a quiet place. As we ate we looked around the canyon a bit and started to pick out likely photographic subjects, though there was no hurry to get to work. Eventually we wandered over toward the edge of the canyon where some interesting-looking plants were growing, among them a mallow bush.


G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | FacebookEmail

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.


All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Join the discussion — leave a comment or question. (Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately.)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.