Avi Kwa Ame National Monument ~ Unseasonal Surprises

JANUARY 2026

Happy New Year to you all! We are off to a great start here in Avi Kwa Ame, and have many exciting updates to share with you. First of all, the monument landscape is really showing off after multiple fall and early winter rains, and lo and behold—some of the Joshua trees are blooming! That's right, while usually a spring event, artist Alina Lindquist has seen multiple Joshuas and Mojave yuccas in bud and full bloom around the El Dorado and Newberry Mountains on the east side of the monument. She has shared some beautiful photos with us of these biological oddities. Winter blooming can happen when a warm rain confuses plants into thinking it is spring. That isn't necessarily a good thing, since their pollinators are not out yet to finish the reproduction process, but it does make for a beautiful New Year's surprise. Hopefully, these plants' eagerness to flower is a sign that we'll also have a good spring show, and they will successfully seed the next generation.