MNHC will provide advice on identifying native plants in fall and winter, and discuss plant senescence. Floral designers from Bitterroot Flower Shop will give instruction in making fall wreaths from native plants. Participants can then create their own wreaths for holiday decorations or to give as gifts.

The workshop is from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17, in the Fort Missoula Native Plant Gardens classroom. There is a $5 fee for supplies, and registration is requested.

Information is available here.

Saturday, Sept. 24, is National Public Lands Day, and several opportunities to lend a hand or get outside are available in Montana.

In Missoula, volunteers are needed for four service projects.

• Missoula Parks and Recreation is leading a cleanup and restoration of the Tower Street Conservation Area, pictured above, after last spring’s flooding.
• The Montana Conservation Corps will be constructing three sections of turnpike in the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area’s Spring Creek drainage.
• Friends of the M Trail will be doing work on the trail to the “M” on Mount Sentinel.
• And the Bureau of Land Management will hold a fence pull.

For more Montana events, check the National Public Lands Day website.

Also on Saturday, National Park Service sites are waiving entrance fees. Sites include Glacier and Yellowstone national parks, Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area and Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. If you’re going to Glacier, remember that services and Going-to-the-Sun Road are beginning to shut down.

Fireweed

Epilobium angustifolium

Description: Pink flowers about 1 inch wide with four petals clustered near the top of a stem 1 to 7 feet tall with lance-shaped leaves 2 to 6 inches long. Grows in rich soil in moist or disturbed areas of woods, prairies and hills. Blooms June to August. (“Peterson Field Guides: Rocky Mountain Wildflowers,” by John J. Craighead, Frank C. Craighead Jr. and Ray J. Davis)

Recently seen: Pattee Canyon National Recreation Area east of Missoula, Red Eagle Lake trail in Glacier National Park.

The walk: Glacier’s Red Eagle Lake trail begins at the 1913 Ranger Station, about three-quarters of a mile from the St. Mary Visitor Center. Drive one-quarter mile southeast of the St. Mary entrance station on Going-to-the-Sun Road, turn south on an access road and then southwest at the next intersection. The trail travels southwest along an old road, then climbs to a grassy, wildflower-filled plateau and descends to Red Eagle Creek. Near the creek, hikers enter forest burned by the 2006 Red Eagle fire. After crossing the creek on a suspension bridge, it’s about another mile through the burn area to the junction with the St. Mary Lake trail at about five miles. After crossing a second suspension bridge near the junction, the trail continues 2 1/2 miles southwest through old silver trunks to the mountain-ringed Red Eagle Lake. Look for fireweed throughout the old burn area.

See more picture from the trail to Red Eagle Lake here. (They are in reverse order because we hiked the trail back to St. Mary as part of a backpacking trip.)

The Montana Natural History Center is offering its “miniNaturalists at the Gardens” preschool program from 10 to 11 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 11, at the Fort Missoula Native Plant Gardens. Kids ages 2 to 5 can explore the natural world through hands-on activities, games and play. Admission is $1 per child for MNHC members, $3 for nonmembers. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Also at MNHC, registration is open for the Montana Master Naturalist fall course, which will be offered Thursdays, Sept. 6 through Oct. 13, from 4 to 7 p.m. plus Saturday field trips Sept. 10, Sept. 24 and Oct. 8. Alyssa McLean and other naturalists ill teach identification of local flowers, trees, birds, insects and fish. The cost is $395. Call 327-0405 to sign up.

On Saturday, Aug. 27, the Clark Fork chapter of the Montana Native Plant Society will hold a Gentian Jaunt to Baker, Middle and Gem lakes in the Bitterroot National Forest with botanist and naturalist Peter Lesica. The two-mile hike to the lakes below Trapper Peak is steep and somewhat strenuous, but there you will find blue mountain bog gentian. In Missoula, meet at the southwest corner of Wal-Mart, 4000 U.S. Highway 93 S. at 9:30 a.m.; in Hamilton, meet at 10:30 a.m. at Sam’s Spade, 111 S. Fourth St. Wear sturdy shoes, and bring water, lunch and rain gear. For more information, call 258-5439.

Alaska rein orchid

Piperia unalascensis

Description: Pale green flowers with three sepals about one-eighth of an inch long, two spreading to sides and downward and one joined to upper two petals to form a hood. Third petal is fleshy, lance-shaped and projects forward with a one-16th- to one-quarter-inch spur that projects backward or downward. Flowers form open racemes on a stem 8 to 31 inches tall with lance-shaped leaves at the base. Grows in dry woods, streambanks and open slopes. Blooms June to August. (“National Audubon Society Field Guide to Wildflowers – Western Region,” by Richard Spellenberg)

Recently seen: Pattee Canyon National Recreation Area east of Missoula, western end of St. Mary Lake in Glacier National Park.

The walk: Several trailheads allow access to the northwestern side of Glacier’s St. Mary Lake. We hiked from the Sunrift Gorge parking area, about 39 miles east of West Glacier on Going-to-the-Sun Road to the St. Mary Falls area, after driving from Missoula. The trail descends 0.3 miles south to Baring Falls and the lakeshore and then climbs west onto rocky cliffs. After about 1 miles, it connects with the St. Mary Lake Trail, which continues south and east around the lake to the Red Eagle Lake Trail. We turned around after about another mile, between St. Mary Falls and Virginia Falls. Look for green stems of Alaska rein orchid along the entire hike. Other highlights include the waterfalls, lake and wildlife. Other access points include the Sun Point, St. Mary Falls and Jackson Glacier Overlook trailheads.

See photos from the St. Mary Lake area here.

Alpine Forget-me-not

Eritrichium nanum

Description: Flowers have five pale to deep blue petals that become white to yellow at the center. Grows from a dense cushion of pale green leaves 4 inches or less tall. Found on open rocky alpine slopes. Blooms early July to August. (“Wildflowers of Montana,” by Donald Anthony Schiemann)

Recently seen: St. Mary Peak in the Bitterroot Mountains near Stevensville.

The walk: To reach the St. Mary Peak trailhead, turn west on St. Mary’s Road from U.S. Highway 93 about 25 miles south of Missoula, past the Stevensville turnoff. Follow the signs uphill about 11.6 miles to the parking area. The first mile of trail switchbacks west through the forest, where beargrass was beginning to bloom recently. The next 1 3/4 miles climbs steadily below a ridgeline. When there about a week and a half ago, this traverse was still under snow, but it was easy enough to follow other hikers’ footprints. The final mile of trail switchbacks out of the trees to the open, rocky summit. Look for Alpine Forget-me-not and other cushion plants in this rocky area. The summit area has a lookout tower, and provides open views across the Bitterroot Valley to the Sapphire Mountains to the east and deep into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness to the west.

See more photos from St. Mary Peak here.

I’ve spent the past few mornings enjoying the summer bloom up in Crazy Canyon, at the Pattee Canyon National Recreation Area on Missoula’s east side.

One of my favorite wildflowers is in abundance right now – pinedrops, above. I like it because its red stalks and yellow bell-shaped flowers are so unusual.

Also out are blue harebells, yellow stonecrop, purple asters, pink clarkia and what I think is green Alaska rein orchid, below.

Follow the old Crazy Canyon Road to the top of Mount Sentinel or any of the many trails branching off of it.

On Friday, July 15, through Sunday, July 17, the Montana chapter of the Sierra Club is leading a backpacking trip through the high country of the proposed Great Burn Wilderness, 30 miles west of Missoula. The trip will explore the jagged peaks and subalpine meadows along the Bitterroot Divide in this 275,000-acre roadless area, beginning and ending at the Schley Mountain trailhead. It’s a 15-mile round-trip, two-night backpack. Email trip leader Bob Clark at bob.clark@sierraclub.org for more information and to check availability.

On Saturday, July 16, the Sierra Club chapter leads a dayhike through a scenic canyon to Peterson Lake in the Bitterroot Mountains. The hike is 11 miles round trip. Email Mary Owens at mowens320@gmail.com for more information and to check availability. http://montana.sierraclub.org/outings.html

The Glacier Institute will hold a “Photography in Glacier Country” course Wednesday, July 20, through Saturday, July 23. The course is taught by Tom Ulrich and will cover everything from panoramic vistas, to wildlife, to close-ups of wildflowers. It costs $490 with lodging or $400 without, and is limited to 13 students age 18 and older.

On Sunday, July 31, the Glacier Institute will hold a “Wildflower Wanderings at Logan Pass” course. Explore alpine meadows, stream banks and glaciated rockscapes with Janet Paul Bones. The course costs $65 and limited to 13 students age 18 and older.

Morgan Valliant, the city of Missoula’s conservation lands manager, says it’s more a return to normal than a boom.

Although Valliant enthuses along with everyone else about this year’s blooming beauty, he pointed out that what seems so showy is actually par for the course.

“A big part of the 15 years I’ve been here has been pretty severe drought,” he said. “From what I hear from people who’ve been here longer, this year is so normal that it seems abnormal.”

Paul Alaback, University of Montana professor emeritus of forest ecology and lead science adviser for Project Budburst, says there is some difference compared to other years.

Warmer weather came so late that flowers that typically would bloom in succession overlapped.

“It’s the perfect set of conditions for all of these flowers to be out all at once,” Alaback said.

Whatever the reason for the big bloom, I hope you’re enjoying it!

Owl clover

Orthocarpus tenuifolius

Description: 4- to 16-inch tall spike of yellow flowers interspersed by purple-tipped bracts. Linear or linear-lobed leaves that overlap and become bracts in the flower spike. Usually found in open areas of plains and hills with moderately dry soil. Blooms May to August. (“Peterson Field Guides: Rocky Mountain Wildflowers,” by John J. Craighead, Frank C. Craighead Jr. and Ray J. Davis)

Recently seen: Sunlight Loop in Missoula’s North Hills.

The walk: The Sunlight Loop trailhead is about 2 1/4 miles north of downtown Missoula on West Greenough Drive and Duncan Drive. Follow the trail through the foothills to the northwest a short distance until it splits. Continuing uphill to the northwest, the trail loops in a counterclockwise direction; turning north, it loops clockwise. In either direction, the trail climbs to the back of the open space property. Find owl clover along the fenceline where the trail descends slightly. The trail provides nice views of the Rattlesnake Valley and Mount Jumbo, and is also frequented by deer. The loop is two miles, but connects to other North Hills trails at its southwest corner.