Wildflower Walks

Anybody else notice the fenceline rising from Interstate 90 into Missoula’s North Hills – bright yellow-green to the west and drab brown-green to the east?
That line perfectly illustrates the battle against leafy spurge.
Here’s an excerpt from Missoulian reporter Keila Szpaller’s Sunday story:
The Parks and Recreation Department’s weed control program started a decade ago, but it [...]

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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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Whiteleaf phacelia
Phacelia hastata
Description: Clusters of one-quarter-inch white to pale purple flowers with five lobes and five protruding stamens. Plant is 8 to 20 inches tall with lance-shaped leaves 1 1/4 to 2 1/2 inches long that have nearly parallel veins and dense hairs. Grows in dry, rocky ground and coniferous forests. Blooms May to July. [...]

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I’ve received a few wildflower reports from readers in Missoula and beyond recently.
“Yellow bells, shooting stars and two other flowers I’ll have to research are in the unkept city park below Whitaker Drive,” Paula Hoffmann wrote in a comment. And “the buttercups are still going strong!”
However, she noted, “knapweed and leafy spurge are [...]

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The Clark Fork Chapter of the Montana Native Plant Society has a couple of outings planned this month.
This Saturday, the group will go in search of Steer’s Head, a cousin of Bleeding Heart, in the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area. U.S. Forest Service ecologist Mike Young will lead the eight-mile round-trip trek from the main Rattlesnake [...]

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Western Montana’s wildflowers have arrived!
Buttercup buds and prairie smoke leaves have been out at Blue Mountain for a while, but on a walk up Waterworks Hill this weekend I saw my first true bloom of the season – pink tufts of Rocky Mountain douglasia growing from the gravelly soil along the ridge. Also poking out [...]

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Bitterroots are beginning to bloom in the North Hills, one of the best spots to see them in Missoula.
The Waterworks Hill trailhead, for the ridge just north of downtown, is on the west side of Greenough Drive, about a quarter-mile north of the Interstate 90 overpass. Follow the trail along the fenceline up the hill [...]

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Lupine is out all over right now, but nowhere have I seen such a patch as the one growing on the southwest side of Randolph Hill, just down from the remaining supports for the old peace sign.
To view it, take either the ridge trail up from the Waterworks Hill trailhead or the switchbacks and Fireline [...]

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The bloom is going strong on Waterworks Hill, with plenty of prairie stars, lupine and arrowleaf balsamroot.
The star of the show, though – and one of the main reasons for the conservation easement on the hill – is Missoula phlox, which is found in only a few places.
According to Donald Anthony Schiemann’s Wildflowers of Montana, [...]

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