Wildflower Walks

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. [...]

[Read more →]

While arrowleaf balsamroot has been out for a while, a smaller member of the aster family is beginning to bloom on the forest floor – arnica.
Find this plant growing at the Blue Mountain and Pattee Canyon national recreation areas, and on Evaro Hill. Look for the yellow rayflowers atop stems up to 2 feet tall [...]

[Read more →]

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 [...]

[Read more →]

The 17th annual Loon and Fish Festival, based out of Seeley Lake, includes a wildflower walk to Holland Falls on Sunday.
Small groups of hikers will walk about 1 1/2 miles to an overlook at the falls. The walk is expected to take 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
Meet at the Holland Lake Trailhead at 11 a.m. [...]

[Read more →]

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

[Read more →]

Prairie smoke – aka old man’s whiskers – is out around the Missoula Valley now.
Find it in abundance at the Blue Mountain National Recreation Area, especially on the lower hills just before you get into the shade of the pine trees. Look for prairie smoke’s frilly leaves and dangling blossoms. The flower’s petals run yellow [...]

[Read more →]

The Clark Fork Chapter of the Montana Native Plant Society will be holding its annual plant sale at the Missoula Farmers Market on Saturday. Check it out from 8:30 a.m. to noon at the north end of Higgins Avenue.
Justin Grigg

[Read more →]

Work to expand and improve the main trailhead at Blue Mountain National Recreation area, on the southwest side of Missoula, continues.
U.S. Forest Service officials expect to be finished by June 1.
For more information, click here.
Justin Grigg

[Read more →]

Reader Ray Lanfear reports that trillium are in bloom along Blodgett Creek, west of Hamilton, “but so are the ticks.”
This is another one of my favorite spring wildflowers, standing tall with its three pointed white petals.
In Blodgett Canyon, look for these flowers along the trail in areas where it nears the creek in the first [...]

[Read more →]

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, [...]

[Read more →]