Clark's Oregon Wildflower Blog: Back in the Field

As you know from the previous post, the staff here at Wildflower Blog Central was out of town for half of Native Plant month (April) here in Oregon. Many of our local parks and nature organizations were hosting plant information booths and sponsoring native plant sales. Hopefully you were able to visit one of these events during the month.

Now that we have returned to our home base, we wanted to get right back into the field; and when we did, we quickly realized that the grass pollen was in full power as the sneezing and honking began! But not to worry, we took precautions and got over to Cooper Mountain Nature Park to do a quick survey of what's blooming. This park is nice for us wildflower nuts because it has both mature forest and south-facing oak savanna habitats - and a really steep trail to get your cardio workout in the process! Also to like about Cooper Mountain: part of the park's mission is to restore native habitat and its plants.

Here's a quick overview of what's on tap in the area this week (5/20/2016) - and they are all native to the Northwest!

If you like cluster lilies, this is the place for you. We spotted many Ball-head Cluster Lily (a.k.a Fortooth Ookow) growing on the sunny exposed areas. Their purple blue blooms are easy to spot poking out of the grass. (Dichelostemma congestum)

There were also a few Hyacinth Cluster Lily plants near the low end of the Cougar trail. Also called Fools Onion, these showy white blossoms have green stripes. (Triteleia hyacinthina)

You know summer can't be too far off when we start to see the Oregon Sunshine opening up. Not much sunshine on this day though. (Eriophyllum lanatum)

And continuing with the state named flowers, at the upper end of the trail we spotted a dozen or so, Oregon Checker Mallows carving out a space in the partial shade of some old white oaks. Their elegant pink blossoms were just starting to open. (Sidalcea oregana)

Of course because it's an election year, we have to give equal time to shrubs as well! We spotted three Northwest favorites on this day: Lewis's Mock Orange (Philadelphus lewisii), named after Meriwether Lewis who collected it on their expedition; the Common Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus) - you've probably seen those white berry clusters in the fall and winter; and the Pacific Ninebark (Physocarpus capitatus), which was just starting to open up.

To close out the native portion of this post, we are happy to report that we found several dozen of the endangered White Rock Larkspur, a.k.a. Pale Larkspur (Delphinium leucophaeum or D. nuttallii ssp. ochroleucum). Only two years ago, we spotted a single plant growing off trail in this park.

In the non-native department, you'll see the Oxeye Daisy, Woolly Vetch (not pictured), and the easy to identify Bachelor Button growing throughout the sunny areas of the park.