Beside the Stream

I took a road through the national forest that goes up to about 9,000 feet. 

There’s a lot of wildflowers up here that are already in full bloom.  The high altitude plants that rely on snowmelt for moisture grow fast and flower as early as they can.  They’ll be fine if they don’t see a drop of rain for months, because they’ve already put forth their seeds. 

and a little closer

The lupine are particularly prolific

and there are so many patches in so many shades of blue that the pollinators are having a field day.

and here’s two at a time

The garden lupines at 7,000 feet haven’t even set their buds, while these wild lupines at 9,000 feet are in full flower on May 12.   

Fleabane is sprinkled up the slopes, soon to disappear.

The Oregon Grape keeps its leaves year round, but the flowers don’t last long.

Everything I’ve shown so far grows in big patches.  But when you start looking at the little flowers, it looks like everything’s blooming.

This wild candytuft must be the source of the ones we plant in our gardens

and this one’s a mystery to me.

The landscape still has streaks of snow, and you wouldn’t think the wildflowers would be blooming.   But they are.