Brambleberries in the Rain » Nature Walks

Wordless Wednesday: the Beautiful Hood River

Cynthia — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:38:15 +0000

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Continuing in Mother Nature’s Garden

Cynthia — Tue, 26 May 2009 22:05:13 +0000

I did not intend to take so many days to post the last part of this wildflower walk that my family and I went on. Last week proved to be a very busy week in my garden and much was accomplished. Although it did wear me out and leave no time for anything else! I hope to share some of what I did in the garden later this week.

Now to continue on with our last nature walk: in the last post I showcased two very bright wildflowers that jumped out at us as we wandered the path we were on. I am more drawn to softer colors and really enjoyed the wildflowers found in today’s post. I like the soothing colors of blue and purple flowers and the wild lupines in full bloom certainly fit that bill.

Broadleaf Lupine (Lupinus latifolius)

I have never before seen a wild larkspur and had to look these pretty flowers up to identify them. We did not find very many of these blooming so I felt rather lucky to stumble upon the few that we did.

Upland Larkspur (Delphinium nuttallianum)

The final flower to show from this nature walk was one of the sweetest little wildflowers I have seen. Small little white bells tinged with blue dotted the landscape here and there and would remain unseen if you were not paying close attention.

Bicolor Triteleia (Triteleia grandiflora var. howellii)

I hope to have my family go on a couple more wildflower hunts this spring while we still have the chance to spot a few. If there is one thing I have learned about nature from gardening is that Mother Nature does not wait for you. One must go out and enjoy all Mother Nature has to offer while you can because if you snooze you lose! The wildflower displays may be short lived but they are so worth going out and finding them.

In Mother Nature’s Garden

Cynthia — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:46:27 +0000

A few days back I took my children out for another wildflower hunt. This time we were searching for a few specific flowers that I had read were in bloom at the moment. What a treat we had waiting for us!

Northwest Balsamroot growing next to Harsh paintbrush

It leaves me in complete awe over how beautifully and effortlessly Mother Nature will design her garden. Everything seems to flow so perfectly together. Colors complement each other with ease. Nothing looks out of place or arranged. A gardener can learn so much just by observing how Nature designs her garden.

Northwest Balsamroot in full bloom. In the background you can look across the Columbia River and see Washington.

The two wildflowers highlighted in today’s post are Harsh Paintbrush (Castilleja hispida) and Northwest Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza deltoidea). Everywhere we turned these two flowers were blooming close to one another like a perfect pair.

Bright and cheerfull colors in Mother Nature's garden

They certainly jumped out at us from a distance being as bright as they are.

Northwest Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza deltoidea)

Honey bee paying a visit to a Northwest Balsamroot flower.

Wickedly bright red is the flower of the Harsh paintbrush (Castilleja hispida).

It was a gloriously beautiful spring day to be out wildflower hunting. Later this week I will show some softer colors that we also spotted on our wildflower hunt.