The Desert Superbloom

Every few years in California's Anza-Borrego Desert, something extraordinary happens. After a season of unusual rain, the barren landscape explodes overnight into a carpet of wildflowers stretching to the horizon. Desert lilies, sand verbena, and brittlebush — seeds that lay dormant for years beneath cracked, sun-scorched earth — suddenly erupt in color. The remarkable thing is that the rain doesn't choose which seeds to awaken.…