Baja blooms

The spring flowers in central Baja this year are the best I have ever seen. Southern Baja is a dessicated brown mess but between Guerrero Negro and San Felipe any short hike off the highway is like visiting a botanical garden. Any help with exact species id would be appreciated!

Found this guy while crawling around. Anyone know it`s name?

It was nice of the Mexican D.O.T. to plant these roadside flowers!

I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT !!

Being a desert rat my whole life I've been blessed by being in a couple of '100-year blooms' from the Colorado Plateau to Baja, and it is truly spectacular. The purple carpeting you have in the first pics are Verbena. Purple Verbena. On the CO plateau there is Fragrant Sand Verbena which is white and blossoms open at dusk and actually exhale, which the purple variety don't. The fragrance is intoxicating. Once, in March heading slowly north from Mulege Baja was in total bloom everywhere like your pics. Went into BOLA and it was a 'carpet bloom' where a square mile was solid colors everywhere in the valleys on the way in and out. MAGICAL !!! I guided many years doing whitewater on the CO plateau, and if the Big Bloom was on after a trip i'd hit the desert for a week with my camera to try to capture the magic, but alas, not having the skills wasted tons of 35mm film shooting during mid-day. Between the Verbena and Sacred Datura (Moonflower, Jimson Weed) and seas of color for miles and miles with Arches Park in the background or equal backdrops, the Baja bloom was as good as any.

Thanks for the memories. Haven't seen one in too long now.

I would love for our front yard garden to always look so nice!

[Edited on 3-9-2017 by BajaBlanca]

I think this is the purple flower...

Yuppers, that's Verbena. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbena

Up on the Colorado Plateau is a different kind... Fragrant Sand Verbena. It's white, the flowers close up during the day and open at early dusk, and exhale the sweetest scent I have ever enjoyed. Great shot.