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Category Archives: wildflowers

Wildflowers on our Hillside

I managed to get in one wildflower walk last week after the big rain. Everything was sweet smelling and lush with new growth. Lots of birds and insects to amuse the ears and eyes and pollinate the flowers too. This is the time of year when change happens constantly as the hillsides become more green with new grass, the flowers add color and the light changes all day long. Spring is a time of renewal for all of the senses.

 

Balsamroot

 

Waterleaf

 

Lupine – waiting for sunshine and warmth before it shows us its lavendar petals

 

Shooting Star

 

More Balsamroot

 

Serviceberry bushes have covered the hillsides with their white flowers like frosting on a cake!

 

A honey bee on a waterleaf. Another portrait of this bee may be seen at my other blog.

 

Leaves of a Bitterroot grow and disappear before the delicate flowers appear.

 

Never too much Balsamroot

North Cascades Wildflowers

Last week Juliet and I got away to the Harts Pass area for a ‘hike’ which turned out to be more of a plant walk than a vigorous outdoor exercise. Weather was perfect and bugs didn’t bug us too much. Flowers were great! Such a huge variety. She is much better than I am at identifying all the individuals or finding them in a field guide. On a good day, I can come up with family ID but seldom can I tell you the proper name of an individual plant. I carried a camera with only one lens – a macro – and no tripod. It was a little breezy so the tripod would not have helped. I was glad to leave the extra weight behind. The elevation is over 6000′ and there were still snow patches around. We also looked at and heard birds, bugs, butterflies and some mammals – a marmot, a big chipmunk, pikas AND we saw a Jumping Mouse on the way up. It had a little round body with an incredibly long tail and it jumped across the road with leaps and bounds! It was a lifer for me. What fun.

Patterson Mountain Wildflowers

Despite a windy morning, Suzanne and I had a nice hike to the top of Patterson Mountain. The calendar says it is summer and yet the wildflowers still look like spring. I was surprised to see so many alliums in bloom. Some areas were carpeted with them. And still there are lots of bitterroot. In addition to wildflowers we saw a pair of Golden Eagles, a Lazuli Bunting and other birds. We are SO lucky to live here!

Bitterroot

 

Allium and a yellow buckwheat

 

A tiny daisy, maybe an aster?

 

Allium and its shadow

 

A hummingbird visits scarlet gillia to collect nectar with Mount Gardner in the background

Wildflowers on our hillside

Lots of wildflowers are out now. Mostly tiny ones like shooting stars and bluebells, buttercups and other tiny blooms. The lupine is almost showing color up here and at long last, balsamroot is blooming on our hillside. That’s a good sign.

>October 1st hike on the trail to Grasshopper Pass

>I am pretty far behind on my personal work and hope to catch up in the near future.

On the Grasshopper Pass Trail near Harts Pass
a Pika
On the Grasshopper Pass Trail near Harts Pass
a surprising variety of wildflowers still in bloom
On the Grasshopper Pass Trail near Harts Pass
On the Grasshopper Pass Trail near Harts Pass
On the Grasshopper Pass Trail near Harts Pass
Glorious Larch Trees
On the Grasshopper Pass Trail near Harts Pass
On the Grasshopper Pass Trail near Harts Pass
On the Grasshopper Pass Trail near Harts Pass