Wildflower Walks

Hiking in Glacier National Park a little more than a week ago, we saw plenty of white bog orchids – a 1- to 3-foot stem topped by a spike of white flowers – on the moist floor of the Swiftcurrent Creek Valley above Bullhead Lake.
Closer to home, we found them over the weekend in gulches [...]

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Sky pilot
Polemonium viscosum 

Description: Bluish violet funnel-shaped flower with orange stamens stands atop a 4- to 16-inch stem with leaves that are made up of many whorled leaflets and covered in sticky hairs. Usually grows in clumps. Found in disturbed, open soils in alpine areas. Blooms June to early August. (Wildflowers of Montana, by Donald Anthony Schiemann)
Recently [...]

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White mountain avens
Dryas octopetala

Description: White to cream flower 1 inch wide with eight to 10 petals and many stamens on a 2- to-10 inch woody stem. Leaves are 1 1/4 inch long, lance shaped and toothed with edges that are rolled back. Often found in large patches in open, rocky areas from middle elevations to [...]

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I’m headed up to Glacier National Park on Thursday for a long weekend to explore what I had hoped would be wildflower-filled high-country meadows.
Instead, I’ll be packing some winter gear as the Granite Park Chalet area – where I’ll be staying – still has 4 to 6 feet of snow.
Read more about the conditions in [...]

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Missoulian reporter Rob Chaney has been hitting the trail lately in the occasional Western Montana Getaways feature, finding scenic vistas, lakes, streams and wildflowers along the way.
This is from his most recent adventure, to Bass Creek:
“Stonecrop, queen’s cup and clouds of false mitrewort wildflowers blossom along the creek, while the sunnier slopes are getting big blooms of [...]

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Roundleaf alumroot
Heuchera cylindrica

Description: Five cream to greenish-yellow sepals forming cup with five stamens clustered atop 6- to 18-inch stem with oval- to heart-shaped leaves on stalks growing from base. Glandular hairs cover top of plant. Found on rocky flats, slopes and cliffs. Blooms April to August. (Wildflowers of Montana, by Donald Anthony Schiemann.)
Recently seen: Mission [...]

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A hike up into the Mission Mountains from the Seeley-Swan Valley over the weekend was like taking a step back into early spring: Growing from grassy patches among the rocks and lingering snowfields were Western springbeauty and glacier lilies.
Also, lower down, we found plenty of last week’s flower of the week – pointed mariposa lilies.
Find [...]

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Pointed mariposa lily
Calochortus apiculatus

Description: Flowers have three sepals and three yellowish-white, oval-shaped petals that are hairy and pointed, and have purple dots at the base. Grows atop a 6- to 12-inch stem with a narrow leaf at the base and leafy bracts near the top. Found in dry, open or shaded forests in foothills and [...]

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