Yarrow was growing all over the meadows in the open and shaded areas of Leavenworth. I saw it dispersed along the hills on the way towards Mt as well. It is a fuzzy plant, with many tiny tiny leaves. I wonder what the advantage of such deeply riveted leaves might be.
It is amazing how things are allowed to grow in Grieg Garden- this little sanctuary right in the middle of campus. This bracken fern was around 1.5m tall and 2 m wide with its widely branching fronds.
I found these two huge artist conk's growing out of an Oak tree in Grieg Garden. Each was almost a foot wide, the first about 5.5ft high up the tree, and the second about 10 ft. up.
The lower one, which I could get a better look at, had been there so long that the bark of the Oak tree has grown around and over the top of it- as depicted in the first photo. Amazing!
These stunning rhododendrons decorate all of campus this time of year with their huge pink and purple flowers. These around Grieg Garden have grown so tall- around 8m and are heavy with flowers. The leaves are thick and waxy, covered in pollen as if sticky themselves.
This very low growing nootka rose is just beginning to come into bloom! I wonder if it's shortness (10 cm from the ground) allowed for the plant to put energy into flower formation, as opposed to the surrounding tall rose bushes that are flowerless.
Lining the path of this pine forest park were many brilliant blue larkspur. The stems were not over 20 cm tall, and the small flowers only 3cm from top to bottom.
Western larch began to appear more obviously as we entered Montana along I-90. The trees are easily distinguished against the dark-green sea of pine trees for their brilliant green needles. The tree loses it's needles each fall, so in spring they are new and bright.
These small flowers emerged from the pine-needle strewn earth throughout Idaho and into western MT. This plant was about 30cm tall, with small scentless white flowers. The very thin green leaves are well-adapted to a dry climate that doesn't provide much water for growing wide, thick leaves.
East of the Cascades, the hillsides and forests are completely dominated by the Ponderosa Pine. The bark of this hardy tree is thick, protected from forest fires and long-term drought, while the needles are long and very pointed!
When researching plants of Eastern washington I found a few sources that called the species of Paintbrush found here Harsh Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja hispada). But this species isn't recognized by inaturalist.
This paintbrush was growing in a small clump in the wooded, shady area of the hill. We did not find many of these flowers, only this one stand on the entire trip.
I only found one patch of what I think is called Columbia puccoon or lemonweed. Growing in the taller grasse in the wooded, shady area above the meadow. It was not in full bloom, and therefore difficult to identify at first, but I think the spiny, dusty leaves are distinguishing enough.
I understood this plant to be called Western Serviceberry, but here it comes up as Sakatoon. This was perhaps the most present shrub in the area we explored. Many of these fill in the shaded area beneath trees. Most of the bushes were in full bloom, like the one pictured here.
Dispersed near the rocks and almost nearly in full bloom. Each plant had only one stem with a flower made of a series of very small blossoms.
Hidden amongst the grass a few of these violets were in full bloom in Leavenworth! I am not sure that this is precisely the correct species identification, however. It was the closest I could find for flowers in this region, but maybe rather than a violet it's more closely related to a columbine?
This curly wild pea-like plant winds all around the long grasses in the shady, lightly forested areas we tromped through.
I am not sure of the species, but this fire-work esque flower was growing all along the parking lot at our Leavenworth stop. The flowers emerge in a burst from one point on the stem, not unlike a queen anne's lace flower.
The species name lanceolata does not seem to exist within inaturalist, but according to Pojar, this is the flower native to the PNW. Many chocolate lilies were growing in the flat, meadow area with light shade. The flowers are dark purple, brownish about 4cm long.
Ocean spray is easy to identify for its plumed flowers that seem to be splashing off the plant like white ocean spray. Here photographed the flowers are old, so they are brown and dry rather than white. This shrub was about 2.5m tall with small, coarsely toothed leaves that look not unlike black hawthorn.
Darting around the dry rocks a few of these lizards could be spotted with a careful eye. Most that I saw were much smaller, but the one photographed was a full grown adult male, with a bright blue belly for attracting females.
These giants really dominated the over story here at the Skykomish. They offer a canopy that is not quite as dense as a conifer would, letting in soft light from between and through their big leaves. The maples here have been able to grow HUGE and are all completely covered in dense moss.
Growing in a patch of grasses at the center of the parking lot, these little flowers helped identify the grass as "sweet vernal." The leaves were palatable, a bit like spinach.
Growing all alone this little flower filled in a space near to the road. Only about 20 cm tall, this sweet flower is easy to pass by.
This invasive plant was growing in tight stands throughout the forest here. It seemed to prefer open areas with more sunlight. I am not sure how to identify which species of knotweed this could be. The shrub was around 1.5m tall with very large leaves.
I have seen a lot of snowberry around the sesattle area and beyond, but it was more distinguishable in the winter when very few other plants had leaves. In the spring, when everything else is leafed out, one must pay closer attention to the shape of the leaves. Though I identified the shrub based on its very round, toothed leaves, I noted that there were no berries on any of the shrubs. Perhaps the final one were plucked off at the end of winter. Or perhaps they fall off the shrub at a certain point?
I was surprised at the brilliant red on the flowers of this scotch broom plant. The plant itself was young and small, only about .5m, but the red flowers were striking.
Trailing blackberry dominated much of the under story here, perhaps finally more prevalent than its invasive competitor: Himalayan! It was in bloom with soft white flowers. The older leaves grow purplish at the edges, while the younger ones are bright green.
This tall dogwood was not in the main bit of the forest we explored, but instead tucked away at the side of the larger road. The tree is already beginning to lose many of its flowers. Prof. Tewksbury shows us how the spiraled veins inside a dogwood leaf will hold the leaf together even when the leaf itself is torn apart.
This beautiful, fully flowering apple tree was not more the 3.5m tall, with long branches swooping outward and downward into the road. If there were other crab apple trees in the area, they were certainly not as conspicuous as this one, which stood out whit against the green background.
After identifying these thick low growing leaves in Packwood and elsewhere, it was great to finally see one in bloom! There were a few tight patches of fringe cups with these tall flower stalks bordering the road down to the river. The stalks and leaves were very very fuzzy, perhaps to protect the plant from being eaten? Flowers are light pink cups- finally the name makes sense.
The vine maples here were fairly low growing, filling in the mid space beneath the tall deciduous trees and above the shrubs. They are almost more of a large woody shrub themselves, actually, the one photographed here was not over 5m tall. The branches and leaves were opposite, just like their Big-Leaf counterpart, which helps distinguish them even when the leaves aren't present in the winter.
