Pacific Ninebark (Physocarpus capitatus)

Wahclella Falls Trail (Tanner Creek), Columbia Gorge, OR, 5/2015.

This flowering shrub is native to the northwest coast and Cascades

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Common Blanket Flower (Gaillardia aristata)

Horsethief Lake, Columbia Hills State Park, WA. 5/2017.

While this plant is widespread and native to much of the western U.S., we still find ourselves taken with the rustic beauty of the flowers

Kellogg’s Monkeyflower (Diplacus kelloggii)

Viewpoint Mike Trail, Lost Creek Lake, OR, 4/2018.

What a treat to discover these tiny, and possibly somewhat rare, monkeyflowers on the dry grassy slopes among the blooming buckbrush and long-needled ponderosa pines on a recent hike in Southern Oregon! 

Baby Blue Eyes (Nemophila menziesii)

 

Lower Table Rock, BLM Medford district, Oregon, 4/2018.

Although  the flowers were quite small (less than 0.5 inches in diameter), we still believe the Nemophila we found growing among the grasses near the seasonal vernal pools on top of Table Rock a few weeks back are of the fairly common menziesii species

Siskiyou Mat aka Dwarf Ceanothus (Ceanothus pumilus)

Illinois River Trail, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, OR, 3/2018.

This is one of two similar ceanothus ground covers whose rugged foliage set it apart from the larger more common trailside shrubs in the buckthorn family,

Chickweed Monkeyflower (Mimulus alsinoides)

Britt Woods, Jacksonville, OR. 3/2018.

We tend to see three different species of yellow monkey flower in the Cascades and the Columbia River gorge

Oregon Fawn Lily (Erythronium oregonum)

Rim Trail, Silver Falls State Park, OR, 5/2014.

Blooming earlier, and at lower elevations than the similar Avalanche Lily, and Glacier Lily, these are recognizable by their lovely, “mottled” leaves with streaks of white, lighter green or even brown (seen below). 

Kalmiopsis (Kalmiopsis leachiana)

Illinois River Trail,  Kalmiopsis Wilderness, OR, 3/2018.

It’s hard to believe that this plant was unknown until Portland botanist Lilla Leach and her husband discovered it in 1930

Western Meadowrue (Thalictrum occidentale)

Upper Royal Basin, Olympic National Park, WA, 7/2016.

In moist meadows or forests you will often see these odd looking plants. 

Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum)

Hardy Ridge Trail, Columbia Gorge, WA, 6/2015.

We see three species of wild allium with some regularity on hikes in the Columbia Gorge and Cascades