Our morning walk to Rattlesnake Ridge and Harriman Lake yielded some new bloomers. My favorite blue mist penstemon (Penstemon virens) is blooming down here at our 5,400' elevation. Last Sunday it was about ready to start blooming up at Lair O' the Bear which is at 6,800' elevation. Back down on Rattlesnake Ridge,  Musineon (Musineon divaricatum) is like a carpet in places. Storksbill (Erodium cicutarium) is starting to put on its fruit. Chokecherry (Padus virginiana) is in full bloom and is quite fragrant. American vetch (Vicia Americana) is in full bloom and skunkbush sumac (Rhus aromatica) is starting to flower with its tiny, yellow flowers.

Blue mist penstemon (Penstemon virens)

American vetch (Vicia Americana)
 

Storksbill (Erodium cicutarium)



Musineon divaricatum



Skunkbush sumac (Rhus aromatica)



Nuttall buttercup (Cyrtothyncha ranunculina)

Fendler waterleaf (Hydrophyllum fendleri)



Bastard/false toadflax (Comandra unbellata)

Short's milkvetch (Astragalus shortianus)

Saskatoon serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia)

Lair O' the Bear Open Space park as really started blooming in the past two weeks. Several mustards are blooming. Field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense) , flixweed (Descurainia sophia), and blue mustard (Chorispora tenella) are doing well. The Nuttall buttercup (Cyrtothyncha ranunculina), leafy cinquefoil (Drymocallis fissa), star Solomon seal (Maianthemum stellatum), leafy spurge(Tithymalus uralensis), Rydberg and Canada violet (Viola rydbergii and V. scopulorum),
Saskatoon serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia),  and the
others pictured here are all beginning to bloom.

Leafy spurge(Tithymalus uralensis)

Star Solomon seal (Maianthemum stellatum)

Leafy cinquefoil (Drymocallis fissa)

Scouted Lair O' the Bear again today. We saw the same 5 bloomers as last week, plus Nuttall's violet (Viola nuttallii) and creeping hollygrape (Mahonia repens).





Nuttall's violet (Viola nuttallii)

creeping hollygrape (Mahonia repens)



Today we scouted Lair O' the Bear prior to Native Plant Master class which I'll be teaching in 2 weeks. Plants in bloom were: candytuft, biscuit root, pasque flower, ball cactus and spring beauty.

I've been seeing a lot of purple mustard (Chorispora tenella) and flixweed (Descurainia sophia) for the last two weeks. These early bloomers seem to tolerate the snow and cold weather we've been having.

Last Saturday, the 13th of April, we took a hike at Hildebrand Open Space Park and noticed biscuit root (Lomatium orientale) and sand lily (Leucocrinum montanum) in full bloom.

 

Beeplant (Cleome serrulata)

Snow-on-the-mountain (Agaloma marginata)

Cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium)



Smartweed (Perisicaria pensylvanica)

Cucumber (Echinocystis lobata)

I went out to a State Wildlife Area on the Republican River for work this past week and saw beeplant (Cleome serrulata) with a variety of pollinators doing their thing to the beeplants, buffalobur (Solanum rostratum), and snow-on-the-mountain (Agaloma marginata). At home, along an irrigation ditch and a drainageway, we saw a smartweed (Perisicaria pensylvanica) and mock cucumber (Echinocystis lobata). Rubber rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus) is blooming now, too.

It's been a few weeks since I've posted anything because we were on vacation. Now that we're home, we are out scouting out the few flowers the drought has left for us. Today we saw buffalobur (Solanum rostratum) and evening primrose (Oenothera villosa) in bloom.



Evening primrose (Oenothera villosa)

Buffalobur (Solanum rostratum)