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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Wilcox’s penstemon
Penstemon wilcoxii
Description: Blue to purple funnel-shaped flowers with five fused petals forming three lower lobes and two upper lobes. Stems are 16 to 40 inches tall with opposite lance-shaped leaves, some toothed. Leaves are smooth to finely haired. Flowers are on divided branches that grow from a central axis. Found in dry, open or [...]

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There’s a little bit of wildflower science coming off the slopes of Missoula’s Mount Jumbo.
A recent study suggests that plants there are flowering earlier, and temperature and snowfall may have something to do with it.
The study, co-authored by Peter Lesica of the University of Montana’s Division of Biological Sciences, will appear in the Journal of [...]

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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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I recently received a couple of wildflower reports from people following me on Twitter.
In the Bitterroot Valley, wapiti_waters says paintbrush is out. oh2bnMT is also seeing these flowers on Mount Jumbo.
I’ve seen my first paintbrush of the season, too, along the southside ski trails at the Pattee Canyon National Recreation Area.
Justin Grigg

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The trails on the north side of Mount Jumbo reopened Friday, and a native plant project is planned:
Mount Jumbo north of the saddle reopens Friday
By the Missoulian
Areas on Mount Jumbo north of the Saddle Trail, including the 3.8-mile North Loop, reopen to public use Friday.
The Saddle Trail is located at the north end of Lincoln [...]

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I’ve received a few wildflower reports in recent days from people following me on Twitter and in the office.
In the Bitterroot Valley, Twitter user wapiti_waters is seeing pasqueflowers, shooting stars, arrowleaf balsamroot and dogtooth violets.
Twitter user oh2bnMT saw yellowbells and shooting stars on a walk up Mount Jumbo.
And Missoulian sports editor Bob Meseroll reports that [...]

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Clarkia
Clarkia pulchella

Description: Rose to lavender petals with three lobes and white four-lobed stigma grow from stem 6 to 20 inches tall with narrow leaves. Found in dry, disturbed ground in valleys and on hills. Blooms late May to July. (Peterson Field Guides – Rocky Mountain Wildflowers, by John J. Craighead, Frank C. Craighead Jr. and [...]

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Meadow death camas
Zigadenus venenosus

Description: Whitish flowers one-quarter-inch wide with distinctive, darker gland at the base of each of six petal-like parts clustered atop a slender stem 1 to 2 feet tall with grasslike leaves. Found in dry soil of plains, sagebrush hills and grassy slopes. Blooms June to August. (Wildflowers of Montana, by Donald Anthony [...]

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The Montana Natural History Center and Prairie Keepers are planning a wildflower walk on Mount Jumbo on the evening of Thursday, June 12.
Morgan Valliant, conservation lands manager for the city of Missoula, will lead participants in a light hike on the Jumbo saddle from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Along the way, he will discuss native [...]

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