A Finish and a Walk

Design - "Painted Egg"

Chart - "Eggs-etera" #109

Designer - The Cross Eyed Cricket

Fabric - 28 count Spring Green Lugana

Fibers - DMC

Started - 8 July 2011

Completed - 16 July 2011

It's Wednesday - The ran has ended - Let's take a walk! 

I timed my walk on Monday during a gray morning complete with a steady rain.  The photographic results thus are not the best... 

I thought by July we'd not have much in the way of wildflowers to show.  Well, that was not the case. This is Elegant Brodiaea (Brodiaea elegans). 

It was not happy with the rainy weather - I'll attempt more photos on a sunny day.  It grows on the west coast from B.C. to northern California.  It likes sunny meadows, grasslands, and open woodlands.  We have a couple of areas where it appears content and grows in small colonies - both in open meadows. 

Thought not near the coast, we are awash in Ocean Spray (Holodiscus discolor).  This shrub grows profusely along side our two seasonal creeks.  It is native to the Pacific NW and grows from 4' to 9' tall.  Most of our shrubs are at the high end - 6' to 9' I'd say.

The Ocean Spray gets its name from the sprays of white blooms that cascade downward.  The blooms are fragrant. The flowers fade to tan in late summer and remain on the bush through most of winter.

This thicket forming deciduous shrub is called Hardhack (Spiraea douglasii var menzieii). The flowers are many, pink to rose, in pointed, erect clusters - much longer than broad. It grows in moist areas in forest and stream banks, at low to mid elevations. Var. douglasii has finely matted gray hairs on underside of leaves. Var. menziesii is without hairs on underside of leaves.  Now I'm going to have to check the leaves to see if it is a douglasii or a menzieii! UPDATED: I looked it's menzieii~

 I always get a thrill - chill when I see the botanist, David Douglas's name on a plant. He led a most remarkable life and was active in the Pacific NW in 1824 - long before Oregon was even a Territory!  Click on his name to read more!

 

I almost waited too long to photograph this colony of Mule's Ears (Wyethia angustifolia).  They are a bit past their prime , but are still blooming profusely.  Illustrating the axiom that it is possible to find beauty anywhere, this group is growing directly beneath a large power line.  The micro-climate there is perfect - a sunny open meadow.

Mule's Ears are named, not for the blossom, but for the large elongated leaves which resemble...Mule's Ears!

And now on to the mundane - a Bull Thistle or Scots Thistle (Cirsium vulgare).  Not a native - an invasive - but again, the Goldfinches like the seed.  My Shetland-Welsh pony loved to eat the blooms - she'd carefully pull back her lips, and delicately bite off the juicy bud.  

A few final Red Columbine blossoms in mid-July!  I think this is due to our cool, wet Spring.

In the dark of the forest I spied these bright red fruits.  While most of the "wild cherries" around here are domestic - the result of birds eating orchard cherries and dropping seeds hither and thither, the Bitter Cherry (Prunus emarginata) is a true native!  It blooms in early spring and is content in sun or partial shade.  The bitter fruit is an attraction for numerous bird species.

So that ends our walk today - hope you've enjoyed it - at least you did not need an umbrella and rubber boots!