Shooting Stars

I took a stroll through Highrock Park in Esquimalt yesterday and was rewarded by sighting a few of these tiny, early-blooming, spring wildflowers called Shooting Stars (Dodecatheon hendersonii).

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I take this opportunity to wish all visitors here a happy Easter weekend.

Giant White Fawn Lily

Here's another native plant of the North Pacific Coast, the small (despite its name) Giant White Fawn Lily (Erythronium oregonum). These were photographed in the forest remanants of the Matson Lands above the West Bay Walkway. In my experience, this south-facing hillside over the water is one of the earliest spots around the city where these may be seen in the spring.

Coralroots

While out at Matheson Lake Park on Saturday I was pleased to see some of our small local orchids blooming. I didn't realize until I got home and examined the photos more closely that I had been looking at two species of Coralroot, the one pictured above with a plain white lower lip and the one pictured to the left with a spotted lover lip.

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.

Giant White Fawn Lily

I posted a photo of some Indian Plum blossoms last week as the first local spring wildflower to bloom this year. Here's another local wildflower I saw last week along the West Bay Walkway, the Giant White Fawn Lily (Erythronium oregonum). These are few on the ground now but over the next three or four weeks they will be sprinkled all over the meadows and forest floors in this area.

Tiger, tiger burning bright....

This is the only kind of tiger you're likely to find in the forest around here, though cougars are regularly sighted on Vancouver Island. It's a Tiger Lily, Lilium columbianum. Although it's often seen in gardens it is a bona fide indigenous wild flower and the one pictured above is growing in Highrock Park.

Immigrant?

I mentioned last week that I was having trouble identifying one of the two kinds of pink flowers I saw while out at Esquimalt Lagoon last week. Here is the mystery pink flower. Although I think I have identified it, I could well be mistaken since there are hundreds of species of Allium and the flower pictured above appears to be a little out of its normal geographic location (eastern Washington and Oregon). I believe this is is Allium douglasii, or Douglas' Wild Onion. If not, it must be a close relative - you can check the photos HERE and HERE of virtually identical flowers identified as Douglas' Onion or Douglas Wild Onion.

Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora)

A few years ago I triumphantly posted a photo of my first sighting of the ghostly white saprophyte known as Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora). I've seen them a half dozen times since when walking in the forest but until sharp-eyed Fern spotted these yesterday I had not seen them at this stage of their development. Now the flowers no longer face downwards but have gone to seed and turned upwards. These were sighted near the summit of Mount Newton in East Saanich.

Crown Brodiaea (Brodiaea coronaria)

I rode out to Witty's Lagoon yesterday and was happy to discover a small patch of these lovely little flowers beside the trail that leads from the parking lot down to the lagoon and beach. Their common name is Crown Brodiaea (Brodiaea coronaria) but they are also known as Fool's Onion since they grow from an onion-like corm that is reputed to be both nutritious and tasty and was prized by Native Peoples and early settlers to this area. Witty's Lagoon is named after one of those early settlers. The same man donated the land for the building of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin that was featured here a few weeks ago. Both the church and the lagoon (a Capital Regional District Park) are located in Metchosin, one of the Western Communities.

Mystery Flower

I went up Bear Hill a few weeks ago specifically to check out the spring flowers and photographed this lovely little flower. I saw about a half dozen of these plants here and there along the trail to the summit. As I usually do, I photographed this flower intending to identify it from my field guides later. Well, I've not been able to find it in my field guide so I'm hoping someone out there can tell me what it is.

Pink

I'm addicted to color. It's one of the reasons I am fond of photography but it also explains why I love spring and summer so much. Then the landscape, winter-cloaked in brown and gray suddenly begins to shimmer with blues and pinks and purples against a field of vibrant green. I came across the pretty pink above while on a walk in Bear Hill Regional Park.

California poppy (Eschscholzia californica)

Here's another wildflower one can't help but like although it apparently is an invasive species from our neighbors to the south. This is the California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica). It seems to have settled very comfortably into our environment and its brilliant orange flowers brighten waste areas where more demanding flowers will not grow. They are one of the first to bloom in the spring and continue all through summer to well into the autumn.

Smallflower Woodland Star (Lithophragma parviflorum)

One of the challenges of photographing tiny little flowers like this one is that, perched on the top of slender stems, they are sensitive to the gentlest of breezes. With close-up macro photography such as this the slightest movement means a blurry photo. In years gone by I have simply given up on days when there were breezes. This year I've been experimenting with using higher iso settings that enable me to shoot using faster shutter speeds thus diminishing the problem of movement. The photo above was shot using the iso 800 setting. I find that with my camera (Sony Alpha 550) any higher iso setting results in too much noise for me. So, if youre wondering why there are so many close-ups of flowers lately it's because of this experimentation. I'm still working out how to get the depth of field I want, also. With a flower like this I actually wanted a greater depth of field (smaller aperture) to show a little more detail on the leaf that is visible lower down on the flower stem. But a smaller aperture would have meant a slower shutter speed and would probably have resulted in another blurry photo (I have dozens - I've spent two mornings in Highrock Park photographing this same little flower!). As it was I settled for f11 and a shutter speed of 125th of a second. This tiny flower is called the Smallflower Woodland Star (Lithophragma parviflorum), a lot of name for a very small flower but the name is very fitting. It's a member of the Saxifrage family.

Hairy

This year I have decided to try to be a little more comprehensive when it comes to local wildflower blooms and include some of the less spectacular (smaller) flowering plants whenever possible. I like hairy plants and this one certainly qualifies. I don't know what it is but I'll find out and let you know soon. These are blooming in little patches all over Highrock Park, small plants about 6 inches high. Below is a patch mixed with Miner's Lettuce.Later...I've been through both of my field guides to local wildflowers without being able to make an identification of this plant. Any ideas?

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Reader sonicmur identified this plant as the Red Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum), native to Europe and Asia and classified here as an invasive species. Despite its similarity to true nettles this one is not related and has no sting, hence its name.

Early Bloomers 2

Also while on my first spring flowers walk in Highrock Park I found these Shooting Stars (Dodecatheon hendersonii). These are named after "one of Oregon's most important early botanists," Louis Fourniquet Henderson.

Early Bloomers

I was a little afraid that my trip to India meant that I missed the splendid progression of wildflowers that blooms here in the spring. So it was with some trepidation that I ventured out yesterday to nearby Highrock Park, a little oasis of Garry Oak Ecosystem here in Vic West, to see how far along spring has gotten. I was happy to see that of the early bloomers, these lovely little lilies were most prominent and that the dense stands of deep blue Camas Lilies are yet to come. Today's photo is of the Giant White Fawn Lily (Erythronium oregonum). I have featured these before in springs gone by. I have added the photo on the left to show the beautifully patterned leaves that give this lily its name. The brownish patterns are thought to resemble the dappled coats of fawns.

California Poppies (Eschscholzia californica)

In late spring and early summer roadsides and waste areas near the shorelines are decorated with the brilliant orange of California Poppies. And even when summer's drought has turned the grasses golden these hardy little flowers continue to bloom. They're one of my favorites.

Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora)

The wonderfully strange and ghostly plant above is commonly called Indian Pipe, Ghost Plant or Corpse Plant (Monotropa uniflora) and it has long been number 1 on my list of wildflowers I want to see. So I am sharing this photo with you today with a definite sense of satisfaction since I first encountered these in a forest near Victoria yesterday. Despite their appearance they are NOT a kind of fungi or mushroom. They are a flowering plant that lives from decaying plant matter rather than through the use of chlorophyll and photosynthesis. When I wander around in the forest I am usually looking for something specific because that provides a focus. Yesterday I was hoping to encounter a deer because, though I have seen several this year, I have not yet photographed one. I was also glancing around on the lookout for local orchids and for Indian Pipe, without much hope of seeing the latter because the forest floor where I was walking was quite well lighted and I had always pictured this plant as growing in the dimness beneath a dense rain forest canopy. Suddenly I saw one poking up above the moss. Then I saw the rest and realized I was in the midst of a grove of them, dozens of them all around me.

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ps: I DID see a deer later - but that's tomorrow's photo.

Threeleaf Foamflower (Tiarella trifoliata)

These delicate blossoms belong to another member of the saxifrage family, the Threeleaf Foamflower (Tiarella trifoliata). This is from my recent walk up Mount Douglas.

Small-flowered Alumroot (Heuchera micrantha)

Here's a member of the Saxifrage family that is exhibiting these delicate sprays of blossoms from the rocky cliffs that line the road leading to the summit of Mount Douglas Park. Lewis J. Clark calls it the Small-flowered Alumroot (Heuchera micrantha) while Wikipedia calls it Crevice Alumroot.