Wild Western Columbine

As we were planting the "Honeycrisp" apple tree on Sunday, we noticed a nice group of wild columbine not too far away. We have Aquilegia Formosa - the Western columbine - sprinkled throughout our meadows but sadly they are a favorite of the deer. This clump was no different. Of the 4 plants the deer had browsed off the tops of three of them. But this lovely one had survived the deer visits and was glowing in the sunshine.

False Solomon's Seal

Down in the big garden, growing in the shade of a huge tree, I have a nice group of False Solomon's Seal "Maianthenum Racemosum" plants. In late Spring the plants are crowned by a plum of showy,white flowers. As the flower fades, they are replaced by berries. The shiny green berries are just beginning to turn red now. I don't know if the wildlife will leave any on the plant long enough for me to witness a solid red berry.

Looks What's Blooming Now

While we human gardeners are busily trying to grow and create beautiful landscapes, Mother Nature quietly goes about her business. As we enter the last week of June, here is what I have found blooming on my latest walks around the property. We start with our Native Columbine. I am thrilled with the number of columbine plants that I have discovered this year. It is one of my all-time favorite wildflowers and I have found plants growing on five different sections of our property. Hopefully they will all set seed and continue to multiply.

The Hairy Vetch is growing and blooming in all of the fields right now.

The wild roses are finally blooming too. They are a few weeks later than normal.

The Pink Mallow is just finishing up now. It to is found in open, sunny meadows.

The Cat's Ears are also just about done. They tried to put on a good show for us this year, but had a difficult time with all of the rain weighing down their heads.

While so many natives are wrapping up their annual show, the daisies are just beginning. For the next two+ weeks our meadows will be a sea of happy, white & yellow blooms. And another recent bloomer in the group is the Blue Dick, a member of the Lily family. It is another meadow grower and we have it nicely sprinkled all over our property. The plant, pictured below, is just beginning to open.

July Wildflower Walk

This morning, before it had a chance to get too warm, I took a walk around the property. About a month ago, I did the same thing and posted everything that I found that was blooming. I thought that it would be interesting to do the same thing again and compare. I went into my walk expecting that I wouldn't find very much in bloom, now that we are in July and the meadows are just starting to dry up for the Summer. I was amazed to discover how much is blooming right now. Perhaps our wet, cool Spring and early Summer have delayed things, or perhaps the extra moisture has made certain plants more vigorous and plentiful. Whatever the reason, I had lots to document.

The first plant that caught my eye was this grass. I remember it from past years but not in the quantities that it is blooming this year. Everywhere you look in the meadows, the small tulip-shaped purple blooms are glowing. Each stem has up to 4 blooms on it.

I was so excited when this orange caught my eye. I haven't seen any wild columbine on our property for the past two years. I love it and was frustrated that we didn't seem to have any. Upon closer inspection of this plant, I discovered why. It looked like the deer had eaten 2/3rds of all the stock and buds off of it. The only reason the plant was still surviving was because it was growing under and out from a small fir tree. Apparently the deer love wild columbine as much as I do!

I am guessing this guy is some member of the clover family. It has lovely dark purple blooms.

From the meadow I transitioned into the woods. Here I found lots and lots of this blooming shrub/brush.

Each branch is tipped in a cascade of miniature cream colored sprays.

Not too far away I found this shrub that was blooming in a cluster of hot pink. There weren't a lot of blooms, but you could sure find them easily.

The wild roses are still blooming, especially in shaded areas.

Back into the meadows again. The wild daisies are very common, but are still putting on quite a show.

Near the ground I spied clumps of hairy vetch climbing up grasses and other supports.Hummingbirds love their tubular shaped blooms.

Even though it is not a native, the blackberries are in full bloom right now. In full sun the blooms fade to white, but in dappled sunlight they have a soft pink coloring. They have loved all of the rain.

This pretty little flower was found in all of the meadows. Its stocks were topped in clusters of 8-12 small pink blooms.

Lastly, the thistle is starting to bloom. As much of a pain as it is to gardeners, the goldfinch feast on it after the blooms go to seed. This is reason enough to have some of it around.

June Abundance

Today has been another day of amazing, frustrating, heavy, rainfall. Since 8 PM last night our rain gauge shows just short of another 1" of rain. This latest storm was being heavily forecast yesterday, so I took advantage of the "calm" before the storm to take a long hike around the property. After a few minutes it dawned on me, even with all the endless wet weather, Mother Nature was still managing to put on a pretty good show. The first of June this year was a time of overlapping cycles. The flowers of late Spring were just finishing while the blooms of early Summer were just starting. I decided to take a picture of everything I could find in bloom. The following are my results. Enjoy!

The wild roses are just beginning to open. Because of all the rain and overcast days, the blooms are retaining their bright pink color much longer.

The Cows Parsnip is in full bloom right now. We have lots and lots of it on the property.

The wild mallow is also in full bloom right now. It is another plant that is benefiting from the overcast days. The plant's pink just glows right now in all of the green abundance. I think we have more of them this year, in more areas, than we have ever had.

The wild Camas is just finishing up.

Some member of the Allium family. We just call them wild onions. They are just beginning to bloom.

Cat's Ears. They have been blooming for weeks. The cool weather has allowed them to really experience a  long period of show. I also think we are getting more of them on the property.

The common daisy. They really are just getting started. I could only find 3 or 4 open. Soon, the meadows will be a sea of tall grass and white daisy blooms.

As the Daisies begin, the Pacific Coast Iris finish. They too have had an extended bloom period this year. The mild weather of late April got them started much earlier than normal. We hit peak bloom by the second week of May. Then the rain came and everything slowed down.

Some sort of wild pea. The plants have been climbing the tall grass and are in huge clumps up to 3 feet tall. The small pink bloom just glow right now.

Some variety of small grass. They are only 4 or 5 inches tall and are capped by these small, beautiful blue blooms. When it is very overcast, the blooms shut up tight. I had to wait for a sun break to capture this picture.

I promised myself that I would only take picture of the natives, but then I found this guy. I caught a glimpse of purple hiding beneath a bunch of green along the driveway. It appears to be some a Vinca, probably brought in by birds. I will have to watch it to make sure that it doesn't spread. I must admit that it does have a pretty little bloom, even if it doesn't belong here.