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.  :-)