New Additions

I've updated this blog a little, in order to work on another one at the same time!  On the righthand sidebar there is a list of other blogs and websites to share with you.  "Wildflower Wanderings" will be for all my other hikes and flowers this spring/summer.  "Colter's Blog" is my son's musings about life and his adventures.  Aren't I just getting so tech-savvy?

Another quick visit

The weather was so beautiful on Friday afternoon, that I decided to visit Lone Pine again even though I had just been there the day before.  I checked on all the special spots and didn't see a whole lot of change except for a lovely meadow full of shooting stars that were further along.

I went past an old stump and the sun was hitting it just right that I noticed quite a bloom of new growth on the clump of moss there.  The wonderful thing about a macro setting on one's camera, is the amazing close-up view you get of the plants when you get back home and see it enlarged on the computer.  I'm not sure you notice these details when you see it the first time.

I'm still learning to differentiate some plants as a non-botanist.  Reference books don't always agree either.  So here is an example. On previous posts I put photos of biscuitroot (white) and a yellow parsley.  As I dug a little more, the yellow one was also referred to as biscuitroot, so I got confused.  As I photographed the blossom up close, I saw a similar structure, and sure enough they are both forms of lomatium and are in the parsley family.  The name biscuitroot came from the Native Americans digging up the large tap root, drying it, and pounding it into flour for a thin bread.  See what you think.  The white lomatium has a ferny leaf, and the yellow has a smooth slender leaf.

One more plant is getting started, Low Oregon Grape.  These little buds will become a yellow blossom cluster, and then berries in the fall.  These leaves carpet a lot of the woods at Lone Pine and it's an evergreen.  Our version is not much of a shrub like it is elsewhere; it's very low on the ground.

Shooting Stars!!

What a difference 4 days of sunshine makes!  Our morning temperatures this week were still very chilly (20s), but it has been sunny.  Brings those little buds right out!

The first Shooting Stars of 2013!

There are still lots of Yellowbells (at the top Mary, and they are only as big as your thumb!) and Prairie Stars scattered here and there--they are only as big as your pinky-nail.

Yellowbells

Prairie Stars

Our little Fairyslippers have been hard at work in the cold frozen ground and have sent up shoots!  Won't be long for them.

Fairy-slipper bud

These are also known as Calypso Orchids

This is the same patch as the ones pictured on an earlier post in the snow.
 The shoots/buds are very pale.

There were lots of new leaves and plants emerging.  One is called Biscuitroot:

What I saw the most of today were new leaves that will be Heart-leaf Arnica.  But Alumroot and Fairybells are busy too.

Heart-leaf Arnica

Heart-leaf Arnica

Fairybell shoots

Alumroot leaves

My flower-nerd buddy, Lynn, is helping me identify some of those mystery plants. (see post on 4-20) Mystery #1 is most likely the starry leaves of Larkspur, which we know grows up there.  Mystery #2 is an invasive, houndstongue, and will need to be pulled later on.  Mystery #3 has grown a little bit and I think it is Stoneseed or Lithospermum.  Again these are in places that I can monitor and check to see if we are right once we get some flowers.  Come on sunshine!!

Mystery #3:  Lithospermum/Stoneseed

Larkspur leaves; from mystery #1

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?!

I woke up to a snow-storm this morning!  It lasted all morning!  I guess patience is the name of the game this spring. Good moisture for our little lovelies.

Larkin was here this weekend and had to drive home in it back to Missoula.  The mountains are absolutely white again!

Shoots Leaves No Flowers

This was my ridiculous musing as I walked this morning. Punctuation jokes:  Shoots, leaves no flowers.  Shoots leaves, no flowers.  But today it was: Shoots and leaves, no flowers to photo.  It has been very chilly this past week in Kalispell, below freezing every morning.  Warren said there was at least a foot of new snow up on Big Mountain since it closed.

So maybe we'll do a little study of the shoots and leaves and see what they become!  I know what some of them are, and some are mysteries.  I'll start with 2 photos that I actually took last Sunday after we had snow the night before.  These are my little fairyslipper leaves, and I want to say the buds on the red stems are Rocky Mountain Maple, but that may not be right.

On the top of the hill, there are some trees down from winter-damage.  When I first saw it, and all the "mess" left on the hillside, all I could think of was all the wildflowers that I've seen before growing here!  It will be interesting to see what does come up.  Here's what I see so far.

the hillside

Prairiesmoke leaves

I think this will be Shooting-stars; notice the 2 little pale green buds.

I haven't studied varieties of moss, but there is a lot up here, and this is getting really bright lime green right now.

Mystery photo #1

Mystery photo #2

Mystery photo #3

I'm pretty sure I can remember where all these "mysteries" are, and can go back and photograph them later.  What fun!  Can any of my faithful readers out there help us out? Lynn?  Hmmm...

I would be remiss if I didn't show you some of the views from the top of the Lone Pine trail.  Today I knew Warren was climbing big mountain; maybe I can get a better shot with a blue sky before the snow melts.  :-)

Getting Started

I've thought about blogging about my wildflower finds for awhile now.  I walk the trail at Lone Pine on a regular basis and enjoy noticing the changes in flora as the spring and summer unfold.  So this will be a start toward that end, updating what is in bloom on a weekly basis.  Of course, I have a few months in 2013 to catch up on!

Might as well start when I took a walk at Lone Pine back in January when the trail was ice.  With poles in hand and grippers on my boots, I took notice of the little bits of beauty that are around no matter the season.

Seedheads of Blue Flax

Rocky Mountain Maple seeds

Low Oregon grape leave

Chokecherry leftovers

In February, Colter and Alli were skiing with Warren and I took Kyler for a walk.  You can see how icy the trail had gotten.

Kyler (Alli and Colter's dog) on the trail

Looking east from the top of the hill.

Since I slipped and fell on this walk, twisting my knee and skinning up my chin, I decided that ice-walking was not such a good idea, and I would wait for things to thaw before I came back!

My next visit to Lone Pine wasn't until the end of March, at the start of our Spring Break.  The ice was gone but the flowers were still sleeping.  There is a spot where I always find fairyslippers, and sure enough, some little leaves were emerging and getting things started.

Fairyslipper leaves

The other thing that caught my eye was this tree with blue sap!  I had to study it to see if it wasn't candle wax or something.  I have no idea why it would look blue rather than a golden color.

Then finally on April 3rd there were little yellow dots to greet me as I climbed to the top of a grassy knoll.

Yellowbell--fritillaria

Not very big!

I came again on April 5th.

Things are starting to bud and develop.

Then on April 8th, Monday morning, back to school after spring break, we had several inches of snow to greet us!

So when I got to school, I started thinking about all the little fritillarias up at Lone Pine and wondered what the snow would do to them.  So on my lunch break I drove up to the top and took a quick walk to see.  What little troopers!  Most of them were buried, but a few held their lamps up above the snow.

I'm sure the snow brought good moisture to the ground and will help the other lovelies get going there.
On April 12th I hiked the loop after school and though it hasn't warmed up very much, the snow is gone and some new flowers are starting to show.

Prairie-star

Yellow Parsley

Buttercups

And of course the Fritillaria are still lovely.