Let the Sun Shine

My favorite tv weatherman predicts seven days of no rain.
He said it had been seven months since there were so many days in a row without rain!
Now the sun is shining, and the flowers are exploding:

Rhododendron are some of my favorite shrubs.
The leaves are evergreen, and in spring, the entire plant is covered with blooms.
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My iris are not irrigated, and thus bloomed sporadically these last few years.
They loved our wet spring and are coming into full flower.
These are quite deer-resistant plants, slowly moving out of protected beds.
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In my basement,  half a dozen peony buds
are hanging upside down to dry .
The pair I tested last year still look good, so I am trying more.

All of these flowers live in my ‘flower cages’
to protect them from deer.
Various colored poppies live in separate beds
so the colors will stay true.
Red-hot pokers do not fare as cut flowers,
their nectar is extremely sticky and fluid – a big mess indoors.
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When scabiosa was re-located last winter,
I discovered it was really tons of baby plants.
Ten, or so, were replanted and the rest given to friends.

Columbine is a native plant, and reseeds freely.

First rose from this particular mini-rose plant.
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Promises, Promises

If there is anything a wet spring has to offer
is the promise of blooms to come.

Even though the rhododendron bud appears dark pink,
its flower is pale pink.
Upper right corner is a yellow geum bud.
Great expectations of gorgeous (imho) white Dutch iris.
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Yarrow, Rugosa and a dwarf Ginko.
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Daylilies, foxglove and
California poppies which refuse to open in the rain.
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Droopy flower buds are a trademark of poppies.
Chives and peonies follow in the row.
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A botanical oddity:  Rudbekia trying to bloom way out of season.
Black-eye Susans are fall-bloomers, and this flower did not get the genetic message!

Wildflower Hike

We went for a hike up the mountains yesterday to see waterfalls,
and I found some cool wildflowers.

I have never seen this ‘flower’ before.
The first photo is to show its location in a very wet location.

Wild iris are popping up all over – it is their time.
Trillium is not the state flower of Oregon, but many think so.
It is against the law to pick any specimens!
There are a number of wild orchids that can be found in the woods,
I feel I was lucky to spot this one.

Rhododendron grow tall and leggy in the forest,
this is a baby with one stem.
I believe the ground cover is Oregon Grape leaves around it.
Right photo is one of many wild berry flowers.

Here are some waterfalls we visited:

Tokatee Falls and Watson Falls up the North Umpqua River in Oregon.

Wildflower Collecting

Last week I collected wildflowers for the annual Glide Wildflower Show.
  It has been an especially rainy winter and spring,
but that morning we got a break in the showers.
Our route was Whistler’s Bend park at u-turn in the North Umpqua River.

MIMULUS GUTTATUS

Monkey flower was on our list, and we found a cliff-side full of them.
The flower is hard to see in my photo,
so I found a close-up online of mimulus to share.

We did submit these small pink flowers to the wildflower show.
Unfortunately, we did not know their name, so we relied on the plant biologists to identify these specimens.

After we finished collecting flowers, I spotted this pair of Canadian geese heading towards the water.

These Scotch Broom flowers were not on our collection list.
When I first spotted these wayward blossoms years ago, I thought they were so pretty.
I was soon told they are culprits for hay fever, and have naturalized too many places they are not wanted.