Wildflower Walks

Bitterroot
Lewisia redivia
Description: White to pink flower 1 to 2 inches wide with 12 to 18 elliptical petals, six to eight petal-like sepals and many stamens. Stands on a stem up to 3 inches tall. Fleshy, green leaves wither before flower blooms. Grows in rocky dry soil of valleys, foothills and mountains. Blooms late April to [...]

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I ran my first Pengelly Double Dip half-marathon on Mount Sentinel and University Mountain on Saturday, and while the word “brutal” could be heard around the start/finish area, many people also took note of the beautiful wildflower display near the top.
The arrowleaf balsamroot, death camas, penstemon, larkspur and bluebells are putting on a good show. [...]

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Arrowleaf balsamroot
Balsamorhiza sagittata
Description: Golden flower 2 to 4 inches wide stands atop a stem 8 to 24 inches tall with pointed leaves up to 1 foot long and 6 inches wide. Grows in dry soil of valleys and hills. Blooms late April to July. (“Peterson Field Guides – Rocky Mountain Wildflowers,” by John J. Craighead, [...]

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I saw my first buttercup in bloom this year on March 15 at Blue Mountain – but that wasn’t the earliest sighting around Missoula. Blog reader Paul Alaback wrote in an e-mail that they were out March 12 on Mount Sentinel, March 6 on Mount Jumbo and March 2 in the North Hills.
Alaback would know; [...]

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Blanketflower
Gaillardia aristata
Description: Flower is 2 to 3 inches wide with orange to purplish-red diskflowers surrounded by yellow rayflowers. Stands on a stem 8 to 30 inches tall with lance-shaped leaves up to 6 inches long growing from lower part of stem. Blooms June to early August in medium-dry to moist soil in open areas and [...]

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The American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day is Saturday, June 6, and there are a few events scheduled around western Montana.
In Missoula, join REI and the Montana Conservation Corps restoring sections of trail on Mount Sentinel. Pre-register by calling REI at 829-0432. The event is from 9 a.m. to noon, with a pizza lunch afterward. [...]

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What’s all that green where the grass fire burned on Mount Sentinel last year? Missoulian reporter Rob Chaney has the story.
“So far, it’s a mix of desirable bunchgrasses and wildflowers competing with unwanted cheatgrass and tumble mustard,” he writes.
Read more here.

Justin Grigg

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Spring is finally here, and so are the first wildflowers of the season.
At Blue Mountain, the buttercups and yellowbells are going strong. You’ll also shooting stars just starting. And pasqueflowers are rising from the pine needles, getting ready to open.
On Waterworks Hill, look for pink mats of Rocky Mountain Douglasia. The green tendrils of bitterroots [...]

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Here’s a short video from a hike up Pengelly Ridge to the top of Mount Sentinel earlier this week. There’s plenty in bloom on Sentinel already – buttercups, yellowbells, bluebells, shooting stars, prairie stars and arrowleaf balsamroot.

Justin Grigg

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Prairie star
Lithophragma parviflorum
Description: White to pinkish flower with one-quarter to one-half inch petals cleft into three to five divisions. Three to six flowers stand atop stem 8 to 20 inches tall with cleft leaves three-quarters to 2 inches across growing from base. Found in rich, dry soil of valleys and mountains. Blooms April to June. [...]

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