Hooded Ladies Tresses (Spiranthes romanzoffiana)

Eden Park Trail, Mt. Hood Wilderness, OR, 8/2016.

We stumbled across this fen of Ladies Tress orchids in the moist alpine meadows of Mt. Hood’s north side in late August.

Common Butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris)

Bagley Lake Trail, Mt. Baker Wilderness, WA. 7/2016.

Our second carnivorous plant post!!  

Fringed Pinesap (Pleuricospora fimbriolata)

Table Rock Trail, Table Rock Wilderness, OR 8/2016.

Easy to miss, and difficult to identify

Yellow Mountain Heather (Phyllodoce glanduliflora)

Horseshoe Basin, Pasayten Wilderness, WA, 7/2016.

We’ve only encountered this heather variety a handful of times; 

Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum)

 

School Canyon Trail, Badger Pass Wilderness, OR, 5/2016.

We’ve only recently become aware of these attractive plants.  

Silky Phacelia (Phacelia sericea)

Upper Royal Basin Trail, Olympic NP, 7/2016.

This is the most attractive phacelia we’ve encountered.

Small-flowered Godetia (Clarkia purpurea)

Saddle Mountain Trail, Saddle Mountain State Natural Area, OR, 6/2015.

 

Looking very much like its better know relative Farewell-to-spring (Clarkia amoena),

Ocean Spray (Holodiscus discolor)

Hamilton Mountain Trail, Columbia Gorge, WA 6/2016.

This flowering shrub, a mainstay along roads and trailsides throughout the west, begins blooming in June at lower elevations (like our photos here) and peaks in July and August at higher elevations.  

Antelope Bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata)

Horsethief Butte, Columbia Hills State Park, Columbia Gorge, WA, 4/2014.

Also known as Antelope Bush, this shrub puts on quite a show in the late spring. 

Columbia Lewisia (Lewisia columbiana)

Hamilton Mountain Trail, Columbia Gorge, WA, 6/2015.

This member of the purslane family prefers rocky cliffs, making it difficult to get good close-ups of it without risking life and limb.