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Photos:: Death Valley’s ‘super bloom’

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It’s been 11 years since the harsh Death Valley landscape was this full of life.

“Super bloom” isn’t an official term, National Park Service officials say, but it has come to describe the rare floral pageant of yellows, pinks, purples and reds that blankets the desert moonscape after a perfect combination of seasonal rain and temperatures.

Photos by Mark Boster, video by Bethany Mollenkof / Los Angeles Times

 

The hottest, driest, lowest place in North America is carpeted in gold and patches of purple, attracting tourists from all over the world.

A photographer gets a close-up.

A red sports car heading up Highway 178 is surrounded by desert sunflowers and other colorful plants.

The usually barren landscape around the popular "sea level sign" along Highway 190 in Death Valley National Park is now a little more colorful, thanks to the rare "super bloom" of wildflowers.

Desert sunflowers stretch out near Highway 190 near Father Crowley Vista Point.

A desert five-spot in Death Valley National Park.

Desert sunflowers in the Badwater Basin area off Highway 178 in Death Valley National Park.

A yellow cup reaches toward the sky in Death Valley National Park.

Notchleaf phacelia are part of the "super bloom" of wildflowers in Death Valley National Park.

Sunset over the desert sunflowers in the Badwater Basin area in Death Valley National Park.

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