Pink

I'm addicted to color. It's one of the reasons I am fond of photography but it also explains why I love spring and summer so much. Then the landscape, winter-cloaked in brown and gray suddenly begins to shimmer with blues and pinks and purples against a field of vibrant green. I came across the pretty pink above while on a walk in Bear Hill Regional Park.

California poppy (Eschscholzia californica)

Here's another wildflower one can't help but like although it apparently is an invasive species from our neighbors to the south. This is the California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica). It seems to have settled very comfortably into our environment and its brilliant orange flowers brighten waste areas where more demanding flowers will not grow. They are one of the first to bloom in the spring and continue all through summer to well into the autumn.

Smallflower Woodland Star (Lithophragma parviflorum)

One of the challenges of photographing tiny little flowers like this one is that, perched on the top of slender stems, they are sensitive to the gentlest of breezes. With close-up macro photography such as this the slightest movement means a blurry photo. In years gone by I have simply given up on days when there were breezes. This year I've been experimenting with using higher iso settings that enable me to shoot using faster shutter speeds thus diminishing the problem of movement. The photo above was shot using the iso 800 setting. I find that with my camera (Sony Alpha 550) any higher iso setting results in too much noise for me. So, if youre wondering why there are so many close-ups of flowers lately it's because of this experimentation. I'm still working out how to get the depth of field I want, also. With a flower like this I actually wanted a greater depth of field (smaller aperture) to show a little more detail on the leaf that is visible lower down on the flower stem. But a smaller aperture would have meant a slower shutter speed and would probably have resulted in another blurry photo (I have dozens - I've spent two mornings in Highrock Park photographing this same little flower!). As it was I settled for f11 and a shutter speed of 125th of a second. This tiny flower is called the Smallflower Woodland Star (Lithophragma parviflorum), a lot of name for a very small flower but the name is very fitting. It's a member of the Saxifrage family.

Hairy

This year I have decided to try to be a little more comprehensive when it comes to local wildflower blooms and include some of the less spectacular (smaller) flowering plants whenever possible. I like hairy plants and this one certainly qualifies. I don't know what it is but I'll find out and let you know soon. These are blooming in little patches all over Highrock Park, small plants about 6 inches high. Below is a patch mixed with Miner's Lettuce.Later...I've been through both of my field guides to local wildflowers without being able to make an identification of this plant. Any ideas?

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Reader sonicmur identified this plant as the Red Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum), native to Europe and Asia and classified here as an invasive species. Despite its similarity to true nettles this one is not related and has no sting, hence its name.

Early Bloomers 2

Also while on my first spring flowers walk in Highrock Park I found these Shooting Stars (Dodecatheon hendersonii). These are named after "one of Oregon's most important early botanists," Louis Fourniquet Henderson.

Early Bloomers

I was a little afraid that my trip to India meant that I missed the splendid progression of wildflowers that blooms here in the spring. So it was with some trepidation that I ventured out yesterday to nearby Highrock Park, a little oasis of Garry Oak Ecosystem here in Vic West, to see how far along spring has gotten. I was happy to see that of the early bloomers, these lovely little lilies were most prominent and that the dense stands of deep blue Camas Lilies are yet to come. Today's photo is of the Giant White Fawn Lily (Erythronium oregonum). I have featured these before in springs gone by. I have added the photo on the left to show the beautifully patterned leaves that give this lily its name. The brownish patterns are thought to resemble the dappled coats of fawns.

California Poppies (Eschscholzia californica)

In late spring and early summer roadsides and waste areas near the shorelines are decorated with the brilliant orange of California Poppies. And even when summer's drought has turned the grasses golden these hardy little flowers continue to bloom. They're one of my favorites.

Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora)

The wonderfully strange and ghostly plant above is commonly called Indian Pipe, Ghost Plant or Corpse Plant (Monotropa uniflora) and it has long been number 1 on my list of wildflowers I want to see. So I am sharing this photo with you today with a definite sense of satisfaction since I first encountered these in a forest near Victoria yesterday. Despite their appearance they are NOT a kind of fungi or mushroom. They are a flowering plant that lives from decaying plant matter rather than through the use of chlorophyll and photosynthesis. When I wander around in the forest I am usually looking for something specific because that provides a focus. Yesterday I was hoping to encounter a deer because, though I have seen several this year, I have not yet photographed one. I was also glancing around on the lookout for local orchids and for Indian Pipe, without much hope of seeing the latter because the forest floor where I was walking was quite well lighted and I had always pictured this plant as growing in the dimness beneath a dense rain forest canopy. Suddenly I saw one poking up above the moss. Then I saw the rest and realized I was in the midst of a grove of them, dozens of them all around me.

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ps: I DID see a deer later - but that's tomorrow's photo.

Threeleaf Foamflower (Tiarella trifoliata)

These delicate blossoms belong to another member of the saxifrage family, the Threeleaf Foamflower (Tiarella trifoliata). This is from my recent walk up Mount Douglas.

Small-flowered Alumroot (Heuchera micrantha)

Here's a member of the Saxifrage family that is exhibiting these delicate sprays of blossoms from the rocky cliffs that line the road leading to the summit of Mount Douglas Park. Lewis J. Clark calls it the Small-flowered Alumroot (Heuchera micrantha) while Wikipedia calls it Crevice Alumroot.

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

The rich profusion of blossoms above belong to a plant most of us pass by without a thought these days although it has an incredibly rich history in Europe and Asia as well as America. It's a common roadside weed called Yarrow (Achillea millefolium). It's been used as a tool for divination and has many medicinal uses in cultures around the world. Whenever I see it I always recognize it and remember its pungent and unique smell and taste. The tea is good for you but if you drink it once I guarantee you will never forget its flavor.

Bachelor's Button (Centaurea cyanus)

I have been very interested this year to begin to become aware of the progression of wildflowers in this area. The early Fawn Lilies, Shooting Stars and Camas are all pretty much gone now and have been replaced by tall grass dotted with the brilliant blue flowers above and to the right. These bright blue flowers were one of the first I ever learned to recognize although I never knew the reason for the nomenclature until today (thanks to Wikipedia). It has a number of common names but the name I was taught was Bachelor's Button (Centaurea cyanus). The reason for the name was that in folklore it was a flower that would be worn in a buttonhole by a bachelor in love. If the flower faded quickly, it meant his love would not last. I don't know about love but the picture to the right illustrates something which is definitely fading, the honeybee population. That insect digging around in the Bachelor's Button is not a honeybee. It's some kind of bumblebee.

I've not seen a honeybee this year though I've been out photographing flowers almost every sunny day since spring began. Honeybees are disappearing over large parts of North America and Europe and nobody quite knows why. There are some stories on the phenomenon HERE and HERE.

Elderberries

Here's another image from my afternoon in Mount Douglas Park, elderberries. I suspect this is Pacific Coast Red Elder but there are a quite a few varieties of elder and I am never sure. Taxonomists please feel free to correct me. When I lived in the interior of BC we used to gather wild black elderberries and make a fruit syrup from them. Delicious. It seems the red ones are poisonous but I find their color combination of scarlet and purple very attractive.

Pacific Dogwood - Floral Emblem of British Columbia

Yesterday I posted a photo of an unofficial symbol of the city of Victoria, our hanging flower baskets. Victoria is the provincial capital so today, to continue the theme of floral symbols I am posting these photos of the Pacific Dogwood (Cornus nuttallii), the official floral emblem of The Province of British Columbia. British Columbia has about a billion huge trees and the dogwood is not the most impressive but as a flower, at ten to twenty-five meters tall it's suitably monumental. British Columbia's tree emblem is the Western Redcedar, and we'll have a look at that one day too.

The dogwood flower itself is a bit tricky or botanically picky; those big white petals are not petals, like any normal person would have thought. They're technically known as bracts, and are more akin to leaves than to petals. The true flowers are those little greenish things in the middle. Now you know.

Camosun - "Place to Gather Camas"

Pictured above is a Camas Lily (Camassia quamash). This indigenous wild flower gave Victoria its original name of Camosun or "place to gather camas." The bulb was regularly harvested by the Songhees Nation. Their harvesting and cultivation practices for this plant resulted in the beautiful meadows that inspired Hudson Bay Factor James Douglas to build Fort Victoria on the site of the modern city. Some remnants of these meadows, known now as the Garry Oak Ecosystem, may still be seen in Beacon Hill Park. Were it not for this flower there might well not be any modern city of Victoria.

Goldstream Park - Fawn Lily

Seventeen kilometers (about 10 miles) from Victoria lies Goldstream Park. This park, largely original coastal rainforest, is a beautiful place and I propose to visit it often during the coming months to try and capture some of the indigenous plants and animals of this area. As well as a seasonally changing flora, the Goldstream River is the scene of a large salmon run every autumn. The salmon apparently attract record numbers of hungry Bald Eagles as well as the occasional bear.... The lovely spring flower pictured here is a Giant White Fawn Lily (Erythronium oregonum) There are quite a large number of species of this lily and my identification may not be correct. Any taxonomists out there please inform me if I'm wrong. I am guessing it is called a fawn lily because the mottled leaves (see photo to the right) are reminiscent of the dappled coats of fawns.