Peacocks and Wildflowers

The Blog Header Revealed - Vertical Rows

Row 1: Dames of the Needle, "Primitive Small 3"; Earth Threads, "Peacock Sampler".

Row 2: Handwork Primitives, "The Pocket Peacock";  Ewe & Eye & Friends, "Peacock Bird".

Row 3: The Yankee Stitcher, "An Ostentation of Peacocks"; (right) Dames of the Needle, "Primitive Small 1"; Ewe & Eye & Friends, "Peacock Spot Sampler"; Notforgotten Farm, "Seek Joy"; (right) Primitivebetty's, "Hope".  

It's Wednesday - Let's take a walk.  As April showers brought May flowers, we're off on a Wildflower Walk. 

I think Alpine Shootingstars (Dodecatheon alpinum) are some of the coolest looking wildflowers around.

A neighbor has a wonderful wild patch in her woodland front yard (behind a deer fence).

This year they are mixing and mingling with the last of the cream colored Oregon Fawn Lilies (Erythronium oregonum).

And in a sunny moist meadow, the Camas (Cammassia quamash) beginning 

to bloom.

 

Camas is a Nootka word for 'sweet'.  Many of the Pacific NW Indian tribes used Camas much as Europeans used potatoes or wheat.  It was a staple of their diet.  They baked the bulbs and then pounded them into flour to make flat-cakes. 

The Nez Perce Indians of Northern Idaho fed the starving Lewis and Clark expedition flat-cakes and salmon.

Our sunny meadows are awash with Blue Oregon Iris (Iris tenax).

The Pacific Dogwood (Cornus nuttallii) is a soft white cloud of blossoms.

The Western Serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia) is just beginning to come into bloom.

I've decided this is Indian Mustard or Field Mustard (Brassica juncea L. Czern).

Here's a close up of a Red Flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum).  The hummingbirds have found ours.

I am enamored of the blossoms of the Western Meadow Rue (Thalictrum occidentale).

I also really like it's airy foliage.

I went back to my Secret Forest to have another look at Lady Slippers (Calypso bulbosa).

Boy are they ever ephemeral!

In just a week's time, more than half the plants had already turned a ghostly white or disappeared completely. 

The Pacific Bleeding Heart (Dicentra formosa) was still going strong.

Great blossoms and wonderfully lacy foliage.

I didn't ever see Hooker's Fairy Bells (Disporum hookeri) last year.  I am glad to have added it to my Wildflower List!

The sweet little Spring Beauty (Claytonia lanceolata) was dew-covered.

And we'll end the walk with my mystery flower.  I found a book about Pacific NW Wildflowers on line.  Must purchase!