Archive for June, 2009
June is a spectacular time in northwest gardens. Many communities schedule garden tours during the month, often as a fundraiser for a local non-profit organization. These lilies, in large containers flanking the entrance to a nice home outside Mount Vernon, Washington were among the sights to delight the senses on the Skagit Symphony’s Gardens of Note tour on Sunday, June 28.
The week before, Whatcom Horticultural Society held their tour in Bellingham with six wonderful gardens. June 13 and 14 I toured gardens in Washington’s tri-cities of Richland, Kennewick, and Pasco for the Academy of Children’s Theater. The Boise, Idaho tour was the same weekend, supporting the Idaho Botanical Garden. I missed the Yakima tour, which supports the Yakima Area Arboretum.
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June 29 2009 | Gardens and Photography | 2 Comments »
Yellow Coralroot, Corallorhiza trifida, is one of four species in this genus found in the Pacific Northwest. It’s also the one that has been eluding me for several years. Back in 2003 and 2004 when I was chasing wildflowers all over Washington and Oregon I spent parts of several days hunting for it in places where I’d been reliably informed that it grew. Each time I came up empty and in the end Phyllis and I left it out of Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest.
On June 20 I finally found it along the Goat Mountain trail in the North Cascades at about 3500′ and created the photo here, as well as many others. Yellow Coralroot grows in moist forests and can live in deep shade because it is myco-heterotrophic and derives most of its nutrients from a fungus. Other coralroots share this non-photosynthetic way of getting their food.
The place where most of the specimens were growing was a depression on a relatively flat bench part way up the mountain, just before the trail starts climbing again. If you know the trail you’ll recognize the spot. Other plants growing in the area were tiarella and oak fern. I’d passed this spot several times on previous hikes, but never in mid-June when the coralroot was blooming. Once my hiking companions and I saw the first ones we spotted many more scattered through the woods along the trail for next 1/4 mile or less.
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June 24 2009 | Native Plants and Photography | 1 Comment »
The Wenatchee Mountains in central Washington are home to several endemic species — plants that are found nowhere else in the world. Tweedy’s Lewisia, Cistanthe tweedyi or Lewisia tweedyi, is one of those endemics. It’s actually a little more widespread than some, but the largest populations are in the Wenatchees.
Tweedy’s is one of the showiest of the Lewisias, with multiple large salmon-cream flowers and thick succulent leaves. It blooms in mid-June in the mountains. You’ll find it scattered throughout its range, but almost always growing out of rock outcroppings and often on serpentine. continue reading »
June 22 2009 | Native Plants and Photography | No Comments »
Occasionally mother nature does something odd, like put four parts on a plant that usually has only three. This four-petaled western white trillium (Trillium ovatum) is one such oddity. Trilliums usually have parts in threes — flowers, leaves, sepals. Like four-leaf clover, four-petal trilliums are quite rare. I think I’ve seen one sometime in my past, but can’t recall just where and when. Whether, like clover, they bring good luck is open to question. But I’ll take the optimistic view and say “yes.” continue reading »
June 21 2009 | Native Plants and Photography | No Comments »
