July 27, 2012
Pear Lake, Blossom Lakes ~ Evan’s Gulch Roadless Area (3)
Flowers of the Evan’s Gulch Roadless Area
For a short time I thought about posting photos of all of the wildflowers I encountered on the trail to Pear Lake, but upon counting them and finding that there were 35 different species, I decided instead to just post two sets, leaving out many whose photos I have posted before including Glacier Lilies and Springbeauties which bloomed at the lower elevations months ago but are now in full bloom among the snowbanks that remain on the high ridge just before the trail drops down to Pear Lake.
Harebells, Bluebells of Scotland, Campanula rotundifolia
Clustered Thistle, Cirsium brevistylum
Poison Hemlock, Conium maculatum
Pearly Everlasting, Anaphalis margaritacea
Pipsissewa, Prince’s Pine, Chimaphila umbellata
Ocean Spray, Holodiscus discolor (These are blossoming shrubs and their large clusters of blooms decorate many hillsides this time of summer)
One-leaved Foamflower, Tiarella unifoliata
Pink Wintergreen, Pyrola asarifolia
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Montana Outdoors 
Once again beautiful flowers and photos. I love pearly everlasting – we have it at the coast here.
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Comment by badwalker — July 27, 2012 @ 9:42 pm
I like it too and I think it is blooming a bit early this year. When dried it works well in dried flower arrangements because it lasts for so long.
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Comment by montucky — July 27, 2012 @ 11:12 pm
The close-ups are so clear and vivid. Beautiful.
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Comment by wordsfromanneli — July 27, 2012 @ 9:58 pm
Thanks Anneli. I love photographing wildflowers, partly of course because of where they grow.
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Comment by montucky — July 27, 2012 @ 11:17 pm
That’s a nice set of close-ups. The only one of those species that we have in Austin is the poison hemlock, and it comes to both of us from across the Atlantic.
Talk of snowbanks in late July sounds strange to most of us.
Steve Schwartzman
http://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com
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Comment by Steve Schwartzman — July 28, 2012 @ 4:24 am
The high country here especially along the Idaho border gets a lot of snow and on the lee side of the high ridges and peaks it will get 20 feet deep. The heavy forest there will shade it and it lasts nearly until the snow starts all over in the fall, releasing good cold water into the aquifer and the small streams all summer.
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Comment by montucky — July 30, 2012 @ 9:35 pm
What great shots of these flowers! I love that pink wintergreen. I’ve never seen it or the ocean spray. I’m going to have to look up the one leaved foamflower and see if it grows here. I’ve never seen that one either.
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Comment by New Hampshire Gardener — July 28, 2012 @ 5:28 am
There are a lot of wildflowers here that are unique to the northwest. I suspect it’s a function of the variety of elevations here, the short summers and the long, cold winters and despite the snow in the high country, we are very dry.
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Comment by montucky — July 30, 2012 @ 9:38 pm
Such lovely colors of these wildflowers… At first, I thought you were organizing by color (purples) until the hemlock made an appearance… 🙂
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Comment by FeyGirl — July 28, 2012 @ 8:43 am
I’ve not made an attempt to organize these in any fashion, they are simply in the order in which I encountered them, although that does put them somewhat in order by elevation, from low to high.
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Comment by montucky — July 30, 2012 @ 9:44 pm
We have a foam flower, not like that, and a wintergreen, again, not like that. There is pearly everlasting up north, but it doesn’t grow around here. The harebells are beautiful.
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Comment by sandy — July 28, 2012 @ 10:43 am
It’s very interesting to me to see which flowers we have and which you have and that there are “cousins” in both places. The “why’s” of that would make a great study for a botanist.
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Comment by montucky — July 30, 2012 @ 9:46 pm
The first four are easily found here in Minnesota … however, I have not seen very many Harebells this year. The normal patches are very sparse for some reason this year.
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Comment by bearyweather — July 28, 2012 @ 11:50 am
This is a good year for Harebells here. They are one of several flowers that are doing quite well. We seem to share quite a few of the wildflower species, possibly because of somewhat similar climates.
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Comment by montucky — July 30, 2012 @ 9:55 pm
Harebells! I love them! They grow like nuts in MN – they’re technically weeds, but so pretty how could you pull them? And I’ve never seen Pipsissewa, but it’s just gorgeous.
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Comment by sfwolf — July 28, 2012 @ 12:09 pm
I love the harebells too. Here they are sprinkled all over the mountains, and I’ve never seen a concentration of them. I always look forward to finding Pipsissewa. It looks like something you might find in a candy store.
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Comment by montucky — July 30, 2012 @ 10:00 pm
All beautiful, I especially like the glowing clustered thistle.
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Comment by Candace — July 28, 2012 @ 12:35 pm
They do have a presence, don’t they. That one was as tall as I am.
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Comment by montucky — July 30, 2012 @ 10:02 pm
Now that you’ve shown us the Pearly Everlasting and mentioned it does well in dried arrangements, I’m wondering if I haven’t seen it dried. I always assumed everything that looked like artificial straw flowers were strawflowers, but perhaps not. And you’ve given us some creatures, too! in the harbell blossoms.
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Comment by shoreacres — July 28, 2012 @ 3:49 pm
I don’t know what those critters are on the Harebells. This is the feast time of the year for the insects though. I wish I knew all of the relationships they have with the flowers.
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Comment by montucky — July 30, 2012 @ 10:19 pm
I’m glad you’ve posted the pipsissewa. Either mine hasn’t bloomed this year, or I missed it. And I sure like that pink wintergreen!
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Comment by jomegat — July 28, 2012 @ 8:19 pm
I haven’t seen a lot of Pipsissewa this year at least so far, and usually I see only a few of those wintergreens, but there were hundreds (perhaps thousands) of them along a mile long stretch of that trail. Quite a display!
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Comment by montucky — July 30, 2012 @ 10:21 pm
That’s a sight I would like to have seen. But that’s true of every photo you post.
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Comment by jomegat — July 31, 2012 @ 5:21 am
Hi Montucky, I so enjoy seeing your flower photos! I like those Blue Bells! I think I have that Poison Hemlock here in the yard – but I think it also could be Yarrow. I have to have a better look and will decide – likely to get mowed down soon anyway. Have a really good Sunday tomorrow!
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Comment by wildlifewatcher — July 28, 2012 @ 8:30 pm
THose bluebells are favorites of mine too. They are so delicate and pretty and they have a quite long blooming period here in late summer when the other flowers are about through.
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Comment by montucky — July 30, 2012 @ 10:24 pm
Such a wide variety! Lovely.
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Comment by Bo Mackison — July 28, 2012 @ 8:54 pm
I was a little surprised at the variety too, but the elevation there was higher and so it was earlier in their summer, and at the higher elevations many of the species have not yet begun to bloom.
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Comment by montucky — July 30, 2012 @ 10:26 pm
These rich dark backgrounds are absolutely stunning! They create an unparalleled depth!
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Comment by Marcie — July 29, 2012 @ 12:42 pm
I get a lot of those backgrounds in my photos because they are often taken, as these were, in very low light conditions requiring the use of flash, which I tone down to avoid over exposing the delicate light colors of the petals.
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Comment by montucky — July 30, 2012 @ 11:11 pm
Beautiful… nice lighting! Does the foamflower really only have one leaf?
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Comment by kcjewel — July 30, 2012 @ 10:11 am
My understanding of the name is that there are two variations of the species (and some think they are separate species) the one-leaved and the three-leaved. On the one-leaved, each leaf is all one piece. On the three-leaved, the leaf consists of three separate segments.
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Comment by montucky — July 30, 2012 @ 11:37 pm
I still think you need to write an illustrated guidebook about Montana wildflowers. These pictures are, as usual, so much better than some of the guidebook pictures I’ve seen over the years.
Malcolm
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Comment by knightofswords — July 30, 2012 @ 7:02 pm
I’ve thought about it, Malcolm, but I suspect that the species that I’ve captured in photos is only a fraction of the species that are native to Montana and therefore I would have only a partial book. My wanderings have been limited to about a thousand square miles out of the one hundred forty seven thousand square miles of Montana. I would sure love to explore and photograph the rest though!
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Comment by montucky — July 30, 2012 @ 11:57 pm
I am in awe of your knowledge of flowers, and the beauty of your photography – and do second the comments of knightofswords above!!
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Comment by Julie — July 30, 2012 @ 9:27 pm
Thank you Julie! I deeply love the wildflowers and try my best to capture their beauty. I’m very pleased that you enjoy seeing them!
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Comment by montucky — July 30, 2012 @ 11:59 pm
So many interesting wildflowers, Montucky. I know only the bluebells, the wintergreen (but not a pink one) and some other form of thistles. I don’t mind more flowers…
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Comment by bentehaarstad — July 31, 2012 @ 9:12 am
I love hiking those forest trails, but they wouldn’t be nearly as sweet were it not for the wildflowers.
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Comment by montucky — July 31, 2012 @ 7:05 pm
wonderful photos of forest treasures!
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Comment by Tammie — July 31, 2012 @ 9:46 am
I think they are… and gifts!
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Comment by montucky — July 31, 2012 @ 7:06 pm
These are stunning!!! And 35 different varieties?! Amazing!!!
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Comment by dhphotosite — August 1, 2012 @ 9:00 am
I was surprised when I counted the different species that were blooming. It is still early spring though In that relatively high and protected area.
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Comment by montucky — August 1, 2012 @ 9:52 pm
I instantly recognised the harebell and thistle, and have seen a few of the others before but am not really sure where. I’m particularly puzzling where I might have seen the pearly everlasting, and think it might have been as a dried flowers, which is a bit disappointing to me.
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Comment by Val — August 2, 2012 @ 2:07 pm
I’ve never tried to grow it, but it is very plentiful here in late summer. It seems to like the higher elevations where it’s cooler, but it also likes full sun.
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Comment by montucky — August 3, 2012 @ 7:39 pm
It is almost like you are still in spring, but there on the mountain. Lovely photos. I miss pearly everlasting. We had it where I grew up and I have tried planting it in my garden, both out here and when we lived in town–and every year it gets devoured by some kind of caterpillar.
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Comment by kateri — August 2, 2012 @ 9:14 pm
The higher elevation there and the deep forest keep spring from happening until now. Today I was at a higher elevation, but in a drier area about 60 miles east and it was already summer there. I’ve noticed that pearly everlasting does attract a lot of insects.
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Comment by montucky — August 3, 2012 @ 7:42 pm
Another gallery of beauties, Montucky. Thanks for sharing them.
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Comment by Kim — August 6, 2012 @ 9:07 am
Thanks Kim.
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Comment by montucky — August 6, 2012 @ 9:06 pm