This time of year, on a short walk in a park or a longer hike on a trail, you're bound to see some native wildflowers and plants. Like tiny decorations on your day's timeline, these flowers are a delight for us humans and more importantly they are the evolutionary lure that assures their continued propagation. With over 4,000 native wildflower plants growing throughout Oregon, it's a long term relationship to get to know them all!
As mentioned in previous posts, here in Oregon we have a great "club" of sorts for anyone interested in native plants:
The Native Plant Society of Oregon. The name sounds a bit like an elite, high-tea group that sits around mulling over the old days, but in fact it's a well-rounded, all-ages group of amateurs and professionals, with a common goal of education and preservation.
So what happens when hundreds of these society members convene for their annual meeting in a small town in central Oregon? Sure, there is a lot of "Latin name" speak going on; but also plenty of socializing and discussion during three days of special guided wildflower hikes, followed by (not so lavish) banquets in the evening with interesting speakers. This year the annual meeting was held at the beginning of June in Prineville, OR. Each participant got to choose a hike for each day from a fairly robust list of locations/habitats. All in all, it was an interesting three-day experience for our wildflower blog team and we did find several new plants for our ever-expanding list. Here are a few of the highlights:
On the first day we visited a unique area on a private conservation ranch east of Prineville, owned by the Deschutes Land Trust. The rocky trail took us through a 3,500 ft. elevation transition zone of juniper, fir, and ponderosa pine. There were plenty of blooms to go around as our group of about a dozen ascended a steep drainage trail.
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| Ragged Robin (Clarkia pulchella) |
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| Narrowleaf Skullcap (Scutellaria angustifolia) |
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| Bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva) |
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| Threadleaf Phacelia (Phacelia linearis) |
On the second day, my group headed west to a popular river destination: Alder Springs. Getting there was not half the fun. The five mile dirt road to the trailhead was horrid, with huge pot holes and large rocks randomly placed by invisible hobbits - to keep visitors from speeding I suppose! Once on the trail our guide pointed out native grasses and flowers as we descended hundreds of feet into the ancient Whychus creek canyon. It was a hot day, so when we reached the creek, most of us went into the water for a break and to cross the creek.
The first mile in this area is a drier, hotter shrub-steppe land, with fewer trees and more sage. In addition, part of the area burned in the past few years, so we did see some natural recovery taking place. In spite of the conditions we saw some flowers, especially down in the lush riparian zones by the creek. The three mile trail ends where Whychus creek pours into the Deschutes river.
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| Sulpher Buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum) |
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| Threadleaf Fleabane (Erigeron filifolius) |
Showy Penstemon (Penstemon speciosus) and Lanceleaf Stonecrop (Sedum lanceolatum)
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| Western Blue Flax (Linum lewisii) |
As we follow the dry, dusty trail down into the canyon, the flora becomes robust and there is more variety. We see Red Osier Dogwood, Wild Roses, and Horsetail among other species that are more common in the lowlands.
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| Whychus Creek Canyon Riparian Zone |
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| Douglas Catchfly (Silene douglasii) |
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| Crossing the creek was easy and fun! |
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| Plenty of Monkeyflower (Mimulus sp.) here! |
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| Red Columbine (Aquilegia formosa) |
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| Heart-leaf Buckwheat (Eriogonum compositum) |
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| Deschutes River at the end of the trail. |
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| Cooling off in the river! |
Our last day and hike was another high desert trail near the Deschutes River. A popular hiking and swimming spot for locals, Steelhead Falls was short on flowers but long on scenery. It's hard to imagine any steelhead fish making their way up this route but just five miles downstream, the huge Lake Billy Chinook (created in 1965 by a dam) has plenty of stocked fish and power boats. We found a few stonecrop and Douglas catchfly on the trail, but most blooms were next to the river.
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| Mostly Juniper trees here, with a few Ponderosa. |
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| Northern Mule's Ears (Wyethia amplexicaulis) |
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| Plenty of greenery along the river. |
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| The falls. Note old man-made fish channel at left. |
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Saw a few clumps of the non-native
Yellow Flag (Iris pseudacorus). |
The N.P.S.O. annual gathering ended without ceremony on Sunday afternoon as we packed up our gear and belted down the ice tea. Some folks stayed on for extended vacations or more exploring. We are looking forward to next year's event!
