February 2020 Wildflower Beginnings

On February 12, I hiked through the woods looking for wildflowers beginning to bloom since we have had such a warm, wet winter so far. Very few flowers were open. I did find this native thistle I have not noticed before.

Clustered thistle/Indian thistle/Short-styled thistle (Cirsium Brevistylum)

Lots of these (below) but I do not yet know what it is. Looking in past blog posts, I'm guessing Montia sibirica, Candy Flower. We'll see if it gets 5 petalled, pink striped white flowers. (It did!)

Can't say that I know what this one is, either, although my guess is it's one of those confusing Cardamines, maybe C. integrifolia? I'll go back in a week or so and try to get a photo when it's open.

On Feb. 24, a few what I call Spring Queens were open.They are one of the Cardamines, I think. I'm giving up sorting them out. But I think Howard Bruner, who has helped me id these before, would say they are C. angulata.

 
On February 17, I found one mystery lily coming up in the area I've found them before. They never get far before being either eaten by deer or smothered by the huge cow parsnip near them. I went back the next day and a second one was up. I put a wire cage over them in hopes of protecting them.

As of Feb. 24, they were still alive. And so were two more I found nearby on Feb. 18. Except by March 1st, it was obvious those two were actually trilliums just coming up.

Feb. 18

March 1st, trillium unfurling

March 1st, trillium

Feb. 24

On March 1st, this one still had just one leaf, while the other one was much taller with many leaves.

March 1st

March 1st

On March 5, the one had grown taller and the other was just the same.

Looking back through past posts on this blog, I found where these lilies had been eaten off below ground in March of 2015, so I'm wondering if it's slugs. Perhaps I should try putting Sluggo around the lilies. These may be Columbia Lilies like come up along a path every year... and seldom bloom. But those are not appearing above ground yet, so maybe these are a different lily? Or two different lilies since they are looking different from each other? It's all such a mystery.

Many more Spring Queens were  blooming on March 1st, some a deep purple. I call them Purple Spring Queens. Original, huh?

And there were more trilliums arising...

Spring is coming!

Mushrooms

One day in the spring, after a little rain, a yellow blob appeared in our barkdust path. Research tells me it is Dog Vomit Slime Mold, a very unlovely name for a pretty but inedible mushroom, Fuligo septica. That has inspired me to start a new section under wildflowers, although mushrooms are not wildflowers. Neither are trees but I seem to have posts about all sorts of flora other than flowers in this blog. By the next day, this slime mold turned dark but I forgot to get another photo... maybe next time one appears in our bark dust path. Barkdust, apparently, is where it came from.

Fuligo septica

In the fall, more mushrooms appeared. Here are Slippery Jacks (identified by Barbara Millikan), numerous in the grassy path in the ponderosa pine section of our arboretum. Barbara says they are edible but not choice as they are slimy when cooked, but they can be dried, powdered, and used as flavoring.

 The amazing conks below just keep making babies and growing...

Blackberries

We have all 3 wild blackberries here, including the native Pacific, which is the trailing blackberry that trips me in the woods; the Himalayan with its invasive, thickets with delicious berries; and the Evergreen with its finely dissected leaves, also invasive but not as overwhelming as the Himalayas. I took photos of all 3 growing together along our lane to the pump pasture. the back side of the Himalaya leaves is light.

Evergreen upper left, himalaya center, Pacific lower

back side of 5 leaflet Himalayas

back side of native 3 leaflet Pacific

5 leaflet Evergreen (highly dissected leaflets)

5 leaflet Himalaya

3 leaflet Pacific (only native blackberry)

Pacific in its usual ground crawling position

Flowering Bushes/Trees

Oceanspray, Holodiscus discolor,  is now in full bloom on our farm. (July 7, 2017)

May/June 2015 and June 2019 wildflowers

Added photos from June 23, 2019, at bottom of this post.

Have been too busy to keep up with the wildflower photos. Will try to add to these as time allows. Some are not native.

 Common Foxglove, Digitalis purpurea, was originally from Europe but now naturalized in Oregon. These photos were taken by our creek on May 31.

Oregon Sunflower or Arrowleaf Balsamroot, Balsamorhiza sagittata
blooming near our swamp on June 21, between swamp and horse field.

Four photos below taken on June 28 in the horse field and area between swamp and horse field

Goldenrod and Oxeye Daisies

Checkermallow

Parentucellia viscosa

Prunella, Oxeye Daisy and Birdsfoot Trefoil

On June 23, 2019, took photos of these additional flowers...

Birdsfoot Trefoil

Cooley's Hedge Nettle, Stachys cooleyae

Hedge Nettle