Mock orange (Philadelphus lewisii sp.) is a native long-lived deciduous shrub that is an attractive addition to the home garden. It can be spotted more in the Okanagan Valley than in the drier grasslands of the Kamloops hills. Our home garden mock orange shrubs started as a purchased cultivar. It grew to about 3 m and produced beautiful and … Continue reading →
Yellow bells (Fritillaria pudica) are low-growing perennials found in the grasslands in early spring. They are part of the lily family. They grow from scaly bulbs and many have several small corms. The stems rise to about 15-25 cm. Lanceolate-linear leaves are usually in opposite pairs. A yellow bell-shaped drooping flower sometimes has a faint purple ring near … Continue reading →
Sagebrush buttercups (Ranunculus glaberrimus) are early-blooming perennial herbs found in many habitats in our area. Sagebrush buttercups grow from thick, fleshy woody bases and emerge with low-growing, fleshy, lobed basal leaves with several short stems. All buttercups have shiny, reflective yellow flowers with 5 petals and sepals, although we have spotted many sagebrush buttercups with multiple petals … Continue reading →
Wild asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) and garden asparagus are the same plant. In our area, asparagus can be found in a number of spots in the valley where the soil is moist. We encounter it on sidehills, in seep gullies, in low spots, and in flood zones. Most have become naturalized, descendants of garden plants in both rural areas and green … Continue reading →
We spent some time in March hiking in the Tucson area. There were wildflowers on the trails, but we also visited a number of gardens. The first was the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. The 98 acre facility had a zoo, an aquarium, a natural history museum, an art gallery, and a desert botanical garden. We had hiked … Continue reading →
Cutleaf anemone (Anemone multifida) is a perennial herb in the buttercup family (along with pasqueflowers at higher elevations. They tend to clump with a thick woody base and they usually have multiple stems. The lower leaves are hairy, segmented and have incised leaflets. Long, soft, hairy stems are topped with white, yellowish, or pinkish sepals, often tinged with purple, red, … Continue reading →
In the Interior area of B.C. at lower and middle elevations we can spot round-leaved alumroot (Heuchera cylindrica) in the grasslands, on dry plateaus, on rocky slopes, and in open forests, mostly in spring, but extending into early summer at higher elevations. It is a flowering perennial in the Saxifrage family. In gardening, cultivars are often called Coral Bells. … Continue reading →
When we hike through the hills in March, we usually spot the first wildflowers starting in the middle of the month and then we spot more at the end of the month. The first appearances are usually on south-facing open slopes above the valley floor. Slopes that are sloped at the same-opposite angle receive the most direct rays of … Continue reading →
We hiked a number of trails in the dry Central area of Washington State in April, camping at State Parks, and going out each day to hike new-to-us trails. One of the trails we enjoyed started in Swakane Canyon in the Swakane State Wildlife Area north of Wenatchee. We wound up onto open ridges above the Columbia River. We … Continue reading →
Our flower gardens continued to flower through October. In November, we started to lose the least hardy flowers (nasturtiums, gazania, zinnia, and more), some flowering plants started to go into dormancy, and a few hung on as the temperatures hovered around 0 ºC. The last flowers in bloom in exposed spots were snapdragons (Antirrhinum sp.). We had quite … Continue reading →
