When I ran across these flowers today it brought back a memory from just one year ago when I posted a photo of one and with the efforts of Adam and Lori it was identified as Wild Hyacinth, Brodiaea douglasii according to the Washington Native Plant Society
(See also USDA Plants [Largeflower triteleia, Triteleia grandiflora] and U of Texas at Austin).
really pretty. I love the color
Comment by silken — May 12, 2008 @ 9:36 pm
I like the color too. It’s pretty easy to spot. These are the first I’ve seen this year.
Comment by montucky — May 12, 2008 @ 9:57 pm
I love the second one (sorry to be picky), but the background of the second one is a lot soothing to the eye.
Cheers!
Ranjay
http://www.promediablog.com/
Comment by Ranjay Mitra — May 12, 2008 @ 10:54 pm
Gorgeous shots. I found so few last year but to be honest go back to the same place looking every year… so far no luck. However, I have to admit seeing them up on your website was without question as good as seeing it in person. Really gorgeous shot of a beautiful flower!
Comment by aullori — May 13, 2008 @ 1:50 am
Thanks, Lori! They are just starting to bloom here. Yesterday was the first I’ve seen and these two were the only ones in bloom although there were several that just had buds. Our weather is crazy this year: 29º last night and 84º forecast for Saturday. The plants don’t quite know what to make of it.
Comment by montucky — May 13, 2008 @ 6:41 am
Ranjay,
Yes, there was a lighter background behind it. The first was against a cliff in front of a shadow area. Thanks for visiting!
Comment by montucky — May 13, 2008 @ 10:10 am
We saw a few of those last week on our hike up Columbia Mountain. They don’t make me sneeze as much as the garden varieties.
Comment by Courtney — May 13, 2008 @ 11:45 am
They seem to be blooming on time despite most others around here seem to be late.
Thanks for the visit! Good to hear from a fellow Montanan!
Comment by montucky — May 13, 2008 @ 4:50 pm
I’m just waiting for the slipper orchids!
Comment by Courtney — May 13, 2008 @ 7:53 pm
We must be on the same wavelength! I was thinking about them today too. I got some nice shots of them on June 15th last year near the Cherry Peak roadless area. I tried to get up there today but after hiking a couple miles past where I had to leave the Jeep because of the snow on the road, I got tired of trying to hike in the snow and turned around about 5 miles short of that spot. Made it up to 4,500 feet, but there’s still three feet of snow at that elevation in the Coeur d’Alenes.
Comment by montucky — May 13, 2008 @ 8:14 pm
That USDA site has helped me on a lot of occasions. Beautiful photographs!
Malcolm
Comment by knightofswords — May 14, 2008 @ 1:26 pm
Overall it’s a pretty good site, but it has problems too. I had to laugh at their guidelines for sending in photos (which they badly need!). They accept a minimum batch of 100.
Comment by montucky — May 14, 2008 @ 4:47 pm
Lovely images Terry, I love the cool blue colors in these, nicely done !!
Comment by Bernie Kasper — May 14, 2008 @ 5:26 pm
Thanks, Bernie! Another of those cloudy days that are so great for photos!
Comment by montucky — May 14, 2008 @ 6:30 pm
Oh! The clear blue color of the wild hyacinths is just gorgeous! You’ve been showing us so many beautiful flowers from your area, it must be especially awe inspiring to see them for real.
Comment by Janet Wilkins — May 15, 2008 @ 10:47 am
Beautiful shots Terry. (I posted about your post last night) So I’ve visited this post a couple of times. (I thought I had already replied but I guess not.) What I was going to say was I could not find any opened here but then I ran into a whole field of them on my birthday. It was so cool as I think this is my favorite of all the wildflowers. (And as you know picking a favorite is a tricky task.) p.s. I find a lot more of my flowers @ the Burke museum research collections – it’s a Washington site but we share quite a few flowers.
http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/collections/index.php
They have a lot more images then USDA site. This little flower was renamed. Gosh it’s so beautiful and even better in person.
Comment by aullori — May 15, 2008 @ 12:11 pm
Janet,
Yes it is inspiring to see the wildflowers every year. I’ve seen them so many times over so many years and yet each spring they seem better than before.
Comment by montucky — May 15, 2008 @ 8:05 pm
Lori,
Thanks for the link to that site! It looks good and I’ll certainly spend some time there. It seems that we do have a lot of flowers in common.
Comment by montucky — May 15, 2008 @ 8:07 pm