The Flowers of Spring & Summer!

Yesterday I posted pictures of the yellow roses in our front yard. At the same time, the deep pink ones were blooming, so here are a pair of images to see! These flowers have very little scent, though they are quite showy. My husband and I have always wondered: "What is the point of a rose that has no fragrance?" This is something that has always perplexed me. So, I did some research! In nature, only some wild roses are scented. The use of fragrant roses in Europe's past was important for medicinal purposes, flavoring food, and for masking unpleasant smells. This is why old-fashioned European roses are some of the most fragrant in the world. When roses were first being cultivated in Europe, beautiful species and hybrids from China were introduced, and these flowers usually have no scent or just a light fragrance. With the blending of the many species and hybrids, a great many roses now have less scent than in the past, but breeders are working to reverse this. The characteristic of a rose's scent is recessive. Just like brown hair and brown eyes in people, "scentlessness" is dominent. When a scentless rose is hybridized to a scented rose, the resulting hybrid will have little or no scent. Even hybridizing two strongly scented roses will often produce a rose with less scent than the original roses. So, most of the most fragrant roses are old-style species and hybrids from Europe. However, climate can also be a factor in the fragrance of a rose. In fact, two identical rose bushes can be grown in two different climates, and in some cases, one plant will produce fragrant roses and the other will have no scent whatsoever! Also, a rose is most fragrant on a warm, sunny morning when the soil is moist, because the production of scent ingredients is strongest then. As the day advances into the afternoon, a rose's scent will diminish, and will sometimes vanish altogether until the next day! And finally, did you know that there are many different types of rose scents? The seven basic scents that are most often found in hybrid roses include rose, nasturtium, orris (iris root), violet, apple, lemon, and clover. Some of the other scents are fern or moss, hyacinth, orange, bay anise, lily-of-the-valley, linseed oil, hone, wine, marigold, quince, geranium, peppers, parsley, and raspberry. For more information about a rose's fragrance, I found a couple of pages to help in my research: Rose Fragrance A Nose To The Rose If you find yourself interested in growing fragrant roses, here is a list of hybrids specially awarded for their extremely fragrant blossoms! The James Alexander Gamble Fragrance Award

I have always loved this flower from the first time I saw it growing on our property. The sharp-looking green sepals are so cool-looking and the blossoms are just beautiful! After the flowers die away, they create the biggest "dandelion heads" I've ever seen! (I'll have pictures of these too in the coming weeks) It was hard to resist taking zillions of pictures and I managed to get so many nice ones that I've shown three more below. I'd love to know which is your favorite! :) Western Goatsbeard is native to most of Europe and western Asia and was introduced to North America, where it can be found almost everywhere in the United States and Canada. In fact, it's considered to be an invasive weed because it grows so readily and is difficult to irradicate once established. The root and stems are edible but this species is usually not used as a source of food. Other species, especially a lovely purple variety known as Oyster Plant, were once cultivated in the Mediterranean as an important vegetable as well as a traditional herbal medicine. Western Goatsbeard is not known to have any medicinal qualities. If you would like to know more about this flower, Wiki has a very nice page here: Wiki: Goatsbeard (Tragopogon dubius) Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) Explored on August 7, 2012, placement at #340.

PEEE-YEWWW, the nickname for these flowers is Stink Weed! One whiff and you will come up with the name by yourself, "WHAT IS THAT SMELL!!! IT STINKS!" I guess "Tarweed" is a kinder name, but it's descriptive. The problem with all the species in this genus is that they are covered with sticky resin and if you walk past a plant, you'll know the second you walk into your house when the smell hits you! I avoid taking our dogs out into the meadow when Tarweed is growing because the house smells for hours after we get home! *wrinkles nose* Clothes with any resin on them must be washed right away and if you get it on your skin, you'll need alcohol to break down the resin! ACK! It's no fun to walk through this stuff! That being said, Tarweed has beautiful flowers and we have at least four different species on our property! :) Just be glad these two pictures aren't "Scratch & Sniff" images! You wouldn't be able to resist finding out what they smell like, and then you'd be really sorry! :D Slender Tarweed is part of a genus of flowers which includes 11 species, all of which grow in the western regions of North America. Wiki lists them as "aeromatic herbs" which is a very polite way of saying STINK WEEDS! :D This plant is hated by ranchers because the resin will coat the legs and muzzles of livestock and is very difficult to remove. Native Americans collected these plants' plentiful seeds, which they ground up and mixed into an important cornflour-based food called pinole. If you would like to know more about this flower, I found a nice page here: Tarweel Here's another page: Tarweed PDF Wiki has a minimal source here: Wiki: Tarweed (Madia) Explored on August 16, 2011. Placement at #55.

What a surprise when I found these flowers! I was walking around the far side of our larger meadow one morning, not expecting to find anything new and I looked down right before I stepped on these! Here's another flower that isn't anything special unless you get close to it, but wow, isn't it a beauty?! Shaggy Horkelia is an uncommon flower found in the Pacific Northwest which grows in open meadows in the late spring. There are about 19 species of this plant, which is in the rose family. They are similar to another plant that grows on our property called Sticky Cinquefoiil , and Horkelias are sometimes classified in the same genus. If you would like to know more about Horkelia, Wiki has a bit of information and a listing of species here: Wiki: Horkelia Explored on August 16, 2012. Highest placement at #142.

Finding this flower was another amazing surprise!! Last year I wandered all over our property with my Canon SX130IS, and I found a lot of flowers. I knew I would find many more this year because I was trying to find them all, but I didn't expect to find this lovely flower in our meadow!! I've taken pictures of Penstemons before, but I really didn't think they grew here...SURPRISE!! :D This magnificent flower is called the Lowly Penstemon because it is short, growing only about 4-10" in height. The blossoms measure about 1/3" tall, 1/2" wide, and about 1" deep, and are covered with sticky resin. They grow in the Pacific Northwest. When I took a picture of my first Penstemon last year, I had no idea there were so many species of this flower! In fact, there are over 300, which are found all over North and Central America. They are extremely popular as garden flowers and have been cultivated extensively for many years. If you would like to know more about this flower, Wiki has a nice introduction here: Wiki: Penstemon I found a very nice page here as well: Rob's Plants: Penstemon There's also the American Penstemon Society , which is brimming with information and pictures! :)

[Please scroll down to see 3 more pictures!] This flower was another surprising discovery to me this year because somehow I missed it in previous years. Hard to believe because this beautiful lily species grows all over our property! Also known as "Fool's Onion" and "White Brodiaea", these flowers are found in the Pacific Northwest from British Columbia and as far east as Idaho, and south to central California. If you would like to know more about this flower, Wiki has a page here: Wiki: White Cluster Lily (Triteleia hyacinthina) By the way, I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :)

[Please scroll down to see three more images! :D] Wow, there are a LOT of roses!! Wild roses, cultivated roses, old-fashioned roses, hybrid roses, tea roses, climbing roses, miniature roses...need I continue?!!! Holy cow, it's just amazing how many types there are!! On our property alone, we have one wild rose species and five cultivated roses, (Actually, many flowers I have in my flower count are in the rose family, though they aren't specifically roses!) This beauty grows behind our house, next to our deck, and this year it really went crazy with countless fragrant blossoms! I couldn't stop taking pictures, so I picked four of my favorites to share...I hope you like them! :) Old-fashioned roses (also known as antique roses) tend to be hardier than modern roses and are usually smaller but almost always have a wonderful fragrance. These roses are much closer related to their wild cousins and so they usually bloom in bunches, not in singles which are usually found in modern varieties. Their colors tend to be less dramatic too, but they are gorgeous nevertheless. Unlike modern roses, old fashioned roses grow on plants that are attractive and often form dense bushes used for hedges or trained into beautiful climbing forms. If you would like to know more about old-fashioned roses, I found a very nice page about them here: Rose Info: Antique Roses By the way, I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :)

Why is this flower called a "Blow-wives"? I looked for quite a while, but never did find the reasoning behind the name, but it certainly makes my husband laugh! :D (However, I did find out that it's called "Blow-wives" in singular or plural) Aside from their peculiar name, these flowers are extremely cool, and believe it or not, the image above is NOT the flower! It's the seed head! Although I missed the blossoms, I got pictures last year which are shown below. When these flowers go into seed stage, they create seed heads that look like shimmering snowflakes cut from fish scales! Incredibly beautiful, they have a metallic sheen to them which seems unreal! Blow-wives are native to the Pacific Northwest, and are found from southern Oregon to Baja, California. This unique flower is the only species in its genus, but is in the world-wide family of the aster, which has over 20,000 species. Blow-wives are very common in their habitat and may become an invasive weed, due to thier long-traveling airborne seeds and easy establishment in any terrain. If you would like to know more about this flower, Wiki has a small source here: Wiki: Blow-wives (Achyrachaena)

(I've unlocked this shot so people can get a better view!) :)

(I've unlocked this picture so people can get a better look!)

[Please scroll down for two more pictures! :D] [NOTE! Part 2 of Monarch Butterfly Metamorphosis is on the next picture!] I was so delighted when I found that we have wild roses growing on the property! It just amazes me how many flower species I've found, and I have to wonder...just how many did I miss?! I'm sure there are a bunch, even though I tried to look carefully all over. It's certainly been a wonderful project and a fantastic opportunity for me to learn and share! :) The Wood Rose is native to the Pacific Northwest as far east as Montana, north to British Columbia and south to California. Its flowers are about 2" in diameter. It prefers shady, moist forests (which is where one of the plants I found grows, by our seasonal stream), but is also fairly drought-resistant (which is where this rose plant grows, at the upper edge of our large meadow). If you would like more information about wild rose species, I found a wonderful page that discusses different species around the world, including North America, Europe and China. Great pictures, super information too! American Meadows: Wild Roses By the way, I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :)

[Please scroll down to see 3 more pictures! :D] These lovely flowers grow all over our property and I smile every time I see them because they are so pretty. Naturally, I couldn't stop taking pictures, and I hope you enjoy the series below! Dwarf Checkerbloom has a group of over ten subspecies, all of which grow in the Pacific Northwest from Washington to Baja, California. Some species are cultivated as garden flowers and can be found for sale in seed form. If you would like to know more about this flower, Wiki has a small source here: Wiki: Checkerbloom (Sidalcea malviflora) By the way, I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :)

(I originally planned to make this picture the first in my presentation of this flower but decided to make it second after I uploaded it--that's why this one shows up before the originally published image, which is the next picture) These lovely flowers grow all over our property and I smile every time I see them because they are so pretty. Naturally, I couldn't stop taking pictures, and I hope you enjoy the series below! Dwarf Checkerbloom has a group of over ten subspecies, all of which grow in the Pacific Northwest from Washington to Baja, California. Some species are cultivated as garden flowers and can be found for sale in seed form. If you would like to know more about this flower, Wiki has a small source here: Wiki: Checkerbloom (Sidalcea malviflora)

(+2 insets!) This pretty little flower is very strange looking upon first sight. Growing very low to the ground, you really need to get your nose down to this flower's level to truly appreciate how pretty it is, since it looks like nothing special at all when you're standing over it. I found this flower last year behind our shop, but this year I discovered that it grows in many places all over our property! This flower grows about 4" tall on our property but is known to grow as tall as 16". It's found in the Pacific Northwest from British Columbia to California and as far east as Nevada and Idaho. If you would like to know more about this flower, Wiki has a small source here: Wiki: Owl's Clover (Castilleja tenuis)

(Please scroll down for two more pictures! :D) Searching our property for new species to include in my counting project has been so much fun and full of surprises too! I had no idea there were wild Lilacs growing on our property!! These light blue flowering bushes were found at the top of our ridgeline and attracted countless insects. It was a shame that the day was so windy as it would have been fun to get some macro shots of the various critters that were busily visiting the blossoms. However, I was happy just to get a few pictures to share! Wild Lilac (also known as Deerbrush) can be found in the Pacific Northwest up to Washington and south to California. It has been used for many things and today the roots are is still used as an astringent and a tonic. The roots can be used to make a dye, and the leaves can be smoked like tobacco. The branches were used by Native Americans to treat women after childbirth, and branches were also used in complex basket weaving. In fact, I found a lovely basket to see! Furthermore, leaves can also be made into an energizing tea ! (A woven basket can be seen there as well) If you would like to know more about Wild Lilac, Wiki has a page here: Wiki: Wild Lilac aka Deerbrush (Ceanothus integerrimus)