{"id":57336,"date":"2019-04-19T06:03:39","date_gmt":"2019-04-19T12:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=57336"},"modified":"2026-03-22T16:08:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T21:08:55","slug":"utahs-west-desert-in-bloom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/04\/19\/utahs-west-desert-in-bloom\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah’s West Desert In Bloom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WestWest Desert wildflower blooms – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/4000, ISO 800, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 55mm, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Two days ago on the way to Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge I noticed huge swaths of purple wildflowers blooming in the West Desert of Utah. On the way to the refuge the light wasn’t great on the wildflowers and I hoped it would be better on the way back. It was and I felt I had to stop to take some photos of the great views combined with those purple wildflowers.<\/p>\n

There were times that the wildflowers went out as far as my eyes could see.<\/p>\n

\"SkySky Island Mountains and a wildflower bloom – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/6400, ISO 800, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 56mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And times when the purple wildflowers had sky island mountains in the background.<\/p>\n

\"WildflowersWildflowers blooming in Utah’s West Desert – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/6400, ISO 800, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 35mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

There were also times when there were large, fluffy clouds floating over the desert, wildflowers and the mountains where I couldn’t resist photographing them and why would I want to? I don’t often see wildflowers blooming like this in the West Desert and it only seems wise to photograph them when I can.<\/p>\n

\"BigBig sky and a West Desert view – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/6400, ISO 800, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 18mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve heard that people say there is nothing to see in the desert. I have to disagree. There is always<\/em> something to see in the desert. Our wet spring may have helped these wildflowers to bloom so profusely and it also helped turn a relatively brownish view to green. There was so much green to be seen it was delightful.<\/p>\n

\"BloomingBlooming purple wildflowers in the West Desert of Utah – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/8000, ISO 800, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 135mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the swaths of purple wildflowers were huge and some were more confined but each time I saw them it made my heart skip a little beat.<\/p>\n

\"WestwaterWestwater tumble mustard or Blue mustard blooming in the West Desert of Utah – Nikon D500, f9, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I had trouble photographing close ups of the purple wildflowers because a strong breeze had picked up and was moving the hood of my 500mm lens around and there was also a bit if heat wave distortion going on but I refused be that touron who tramples all over the wildflowers to get a better shot. I never got out of the vehicle to photograph the delicate flowers for that reason and also because it was still very muddy from the heavy rains just the day before.<\/p>\n

I’m not sure if these purple wildflowers are Westwater tumble mustard (Thelypodiopsis elegans<\/em>) which are native or if they are Blue mustard (Chorispora tenella<\/em>) which is an introduced species but I am fairly certain they are from the mustard family. I do wish I could have gotten better and closer images for ID.<\/p>\n

Native or introduced these purple wildflowers were a joy for me to see and photograph in the West Desert of Utah.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my flower, shrub and tree photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Native or introduced these purple wildflowers were a joy for me to see and photograph in the West Desert of Utah. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":172867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[358,26,1314,5347],"tags":[6627,6098,7076,7077,4101,4098,4069,7075,7079,7081,7080,7078,7074,4307],"class_list":["post-57336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","category-wildflowers","tag-bloom","tag-blooming","tag-blue-mustard","tag-chorispora-tenella","tag-clouds","tag-desert","tag-mountains","tag-mustard","tag-purple-flowers","tag-sky-island","tag-thelypodiopsis-elegans","tag-westwater-tumble-mustard","tag-wildflower-bloom","tag-wildflowers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t