When does Desert Sunflower bloom in California?

Most often in May. Across 2,830 dated, research-grade observations of Geraea canescens in California, the flowering season runs roughly January to December.

Peak May In flower 2,830 Examined 3,069 State California

Flowering 2,830 in flower of 3,069 examined

88%

91%

96%

97%

100%

68%

88%

89%

Proportion of examined Geraea canescens in California in flower, by month
Month	In flower	Examined	Share	95% interval
Jan	420	480	88%	84% to 90%
Feb	721	790	91%	89% to 93%
Mar	1035	1074	96%	95% to 97%
Apr	172	178	97%	93% to 98%
May	32	32	100%	89% to 100%
Jun	3	3	too few examined
Jul	0	0	too few examined
Aug	0	0	too few examined
Sep	0	2	too few examined
Oct	13	19	68%	46% to 85%
Nov	148	169	88%	82% to 92%
Dec	286	322	89%	85% to 92%

Peak flowering in May. Each bar is the share of Geraea canescens in California observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 2,830 of 3,069 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 4 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.wt38fd.

What this is, and what it is not

This is a record of when people in California found Geraea canescens in flower, not a forecast. It is computed only from observations made in California, so it is not the species’ global average dragged onto a map: the same plant flowers on different dates in different places, and that is the entire point of the page.

It will not tell you what your particular plant will do this year. Bloom time moves with the season, with altitude, and with the weather, and a warm February pulls everything forward. We publish the distribution and the sample size, and we refuse to draw a month that too few people examined.

The plant

Geraea canescens

Desert Sunflower

Sourcesevery claim on this page

GBIF (iNaturalist Research-grade Observations). Dated flowering annotations in California. Every record achieved iNaturalist quality grade Research, which is applied upstream at export. 10.15468/dl.wt38fd. Retrieved 2026-07-14.
World Flora Online Plant List. The accepted name. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.