A Peterson Creek Wildflower Walk
We did a moderate hike on the Peterson Creek Park trails on a grey, damp, windy day and spotted some wildflowers along the route:
Comandra umbellata (bastard toadflax) was emerging next to the Grasslands Loop Trail.
My first spotting of Thompson’s paintbrush (castilleja thompsonii) was also on this trail.
Arrow-leaved balsam root is blooming all over the grassland hills of the area and there is a significant slope of the blooms in the canyon.
Tiny blue forget-me-nots were scattered in open spots in the same area as pink twinks. These tiny flowers are quite hard to photograph and really need a macro lens and a tripod.
Shooting stars and woodland stars were in bloom along a sheltered trail below the rim of the canyon.
Pussytoes were in bloom on some south-facing gravelly slopes over the canyon.
Locoweed was abundant on the canyon grassy slopes, especially on eroded or disturbed areas.
Lemonweed (lithospermum rudicale) was spotted in quite a few locations, with yellow blooms now emerging.
A relative of lemonweed is fringed puccoon (lithospermum incisum) with its bright yellow flower “cups.”
We looped back through the forest where the wildflowers were still yet-to-emerge. Another fine day for a wildflower walk in the Kamloops area.
Thank you Doug for all the flower identification! I enjoy looking at your photographs.