Satinflower 2

So I went up to Highrock Park again today to check on how the local wildflowers are doing in this colder-than-normal spring. Usually there is a fairly predictable progression. Satinflowers first and about the time they are finished the Shooting Stars and Fawn Lilies start, then the Sea Pink and then Camas, etc. This year, however, I am seeing Satinflowers, Fawn Lilies and Sea Pink simultaneously. I took this photo of Satinflowers today and you can see the small pink Sea Pink (Sea Blush) flowers at the bottom of the photo. Satinflowers are usually long gone by the time the Sea Pink blooms.

March Choices!

As I wrote yesterday, "Every year I put together a calendar for friends and family, of photos I have published on this blog for the last year or so. However, it's always difficult to make decisions about which photos to use. I sam hoping visitors to this blog will help out. Every day for the next few weeks I will publish two or three photos from a given month and hope that comments and choices made by visitors will help me make a final decision which photos to use in this year's calendar. As an incentive, I will offer an online downloadable/printable file of the calendar to anyone who helps me make a choice."

Thanks to everyone who has given me their opinions so far, and it really helps when you give reasons for your preference.

Below are my favorite March 2016 photos: Which one do you prefer?

Giant White Fawn Lily (This flower and the Satinflowers pictured below are both wildflowers that are native to this part of the world.)

Inner Harbour Looking West from Songhees Point

Satinflower

HIghrock Park

Before I took yesterday's photo I walked up to the top of Highrock Park to check around the base of this Garry Oak tree. I was looking for some Satinflowers that bloom there every year, usually the earliest of the small ground wild flowers that bloom here. No sign of the Satinflowers yet but the view never disappoints.

Satinflower (Olsynium douglasii)

Here's another early bloomer, the Satin-flower or Grasswidow. I find some little patches of these every year near the summit of Highrock Park. These are blooming about ten days or two weeks earlier than last year.

Satin-flower (Olsynium douglasii)

As soon as the weather begins to feel like spring I head for one of my favorite local parks, Highrock Park in Esquimalt. On its southern slopes I can almost always find the first spring flowers. When I went there yesterday afternoon I was pleased to see these lovely magenta Satin-flowers (Olsynium douglasii) blooming. They are generally among the earliest of spring wildflowers here. Lewis Clark (Wild Flowers of British Columbia) says they are, "...sensitive to every whisper of wind..." and I am reminded of that every year when I set out to take photos of these lovely little plants. Capturing an unblurry photo is a real challenge when the slightest breeze will set those little blooms swaying.

Spring Wildflowers Recap

I am always so happy to see spring wildflowers arrive that I often post the earliest photos I take rather than the best. So, here is a bit of a revisiting of some of this spring's early photos. Above are some Shooting Stars (Dodecatheon hendersonii). This photo was taken near the summit of Mount Douglas and the Shooting Stars blooming there grow surrounded by low groundcover like moss. This makes the basal leaves much more visible so it is possible to get a good picture of the whole plant rather than just the flower. Below is a Satinflower (Olsynium douglasii). Generally the blooms on these are so close to the ground and droop downwards so much that it is impossible to see the inside of the flower. This one is lifted just enough to enable a good view of the interior. Also, the entire plant is visible.Finally, earlier this year I posted an early photo of a Grape Hyacinth (genus Muscari) in bud. Below you can see what they are like now in glorious profusion. These (and the Satinflower above) were photographed in Highrock Park here in Vic West.

Satin-flower (Olsynium douglasii)

Here is the spring wildflower I found on the summit of Highrock Park last week, the beautiful and delicate Satin-flower (Olsynium douglasii). That's the name given to it by Lewis J. Clark (Wild Flowers of British Columbia), who writes that it's also called Purple-eyed Grass. I like the name Satin-flower because there is such a distinct satiny sheen to the petals. I've seen these wildflowers before but never in such numbers as this year. I suspect I've usually been too late to catch many of them since they are very early bloomers.

Satinflower (Olsynium douglasii)

Here's another entry in the roll-call of indigenous spring flowers here, the Satinflower (Olsynium douglasii). I photographed these at Highrock Park in Victoria West yesterday. It is also known as Douglas's Widow Grass. The weather has been cold lately relative to a few weeks ago, hovering around zero degrees Celsius, and while I was trying to take these photos there were actually a few tiny snow crystals drifting down. Summer is coming but winter has not left yet.