July 31, 2012
Pear Lake, Blossom Lakes ~ Evan’s Gulch Roadless Area (4)
Flowers of the Evan’s Gulch Roadless Area ~ continued
American Wild Hellebore, Varatrum virile There were large numbers of the plants, but they will not bloom for at least another week.
Pink Monkeyflower, Mimulus lewisii
Subalpine Spiraea, Rose Meadowsweet, Spiraea densiflora
Pinesap, Many-flower Indian-Pipe, Monotrop hypopithys
Shrubby Penstemon, Penstemon fructicosus
Prickly Current, Bristly Black Gooseberry, Swamp Current, Ribes Lacustre
False Azalea, Fool’s Huckleberry, Rusty Menziesia, Menziesia ferruginea
Brewer’s Mitrewort, Mitella breweri
Bear-grass, Xerophyllum tenax
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Montana Outdoors 
Your florals are a poetic vision… Each image holds a whole world… lovely…..
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Comment by snowbirdpress — July 31, 2012 @ 7:45 pm
I think each wildflower has a whole world of its own, one that I wish I understood better. Amazing and beautiful little living things.
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Comment by montucky — July 31, 2012 @ 11:31 pm
Beautiful photos. So sharp and clear and colourful.
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Comment by wordsfromanneli — July 31, 2012 @ 7:51 pm
Thanks Anneli. That’s exactly how I attempt to show each flower.
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Comment by montucky — July 31, 2012 @ 11:33 pm
All I can say is, I love snowbird’s comment: each image holds a whole world…. The swamp current looks like a miniature confection.
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Comment by Teresa Evangeline — July 31, 2012 @ 8:13 pm
“a miniature confection”. That thought has occurred to me too on this and several other flowers. I suspect that there is with each flower a fascinating story of how it came to be, what it is and what it does… and what it must be like to be able to react to life only in an evolutionary manner.
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Comment by montucky — July 31, 2012 @ 11:42 pm
Each plant more amazing than the last. That bear grass is fantastic!
We’re supposed to have pinesap here, but I’ve never seen it. One of these days…
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Comment by jomegat — July 31, 2012 @ 8:27 pm
I keep hoping that I will still this year encounter an area with an abundance of beargrass. It’s a magnificent sight! This was the first Pinesap that I’ve run across and it was all but hidden under the leaves of low-growing shrubs.
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Comment by montucky — July 31, 2012 @ 11:45 pm
Ah… now I know where to look!
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Comment by jomegat — August 1, 2012 @ 10:53 am
Wow, another beautiful series, love every one in every post! And you do some of the best macro shots, Terry, it’s as if you could almost touch and feel the flower on the screen. I enjoy seeing them every time!
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Comment by bayphotosbydonna — July 31, 2012 @ 8:30 pm
I really do love the wildflowers, Donna. I’m of the age that every extra pound in my pack is to be considered, but that macro lens comes ahead of most everything else. It makes capturing the essence of the flowers possible.
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Comment by montucky — July 31, 2012 @ 11:52 pm
Beautiful…I love that Shrubby Penstemon…the close-up is fantastic. 🙂
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Comment by seekraz — July 31, 2012 @ 9:12 pm
I have a fondness for the shrubby penstemons, finding them on mountain tops at the end of summer. Do you have them in the Wasatch Mountains too?
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Comment by montucky — July 31, 2012 @ 11:55 pm
I think they’re rather beautiful, Terry. I know we have some of the Penstemon flowers out here, mostly blue ones, but I don’t think they’re of the Shrubby variety…and yes, it is always nice to find them out in the mountains.
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Comment by seekraz — August 1, 2012 @ 6:40 am
Great collection of blooms.
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Comment by badwalker — July 31, 2012 @ 9:12 pm
Thanks! I was a little surprised to see so many species in bloom this late in the summer, and there are quite a few more that I think still haven’t come into full bloom in the higher places.
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Comment by montucky — July 31, 2012 @ 11:57 pm
Beautiful!!
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Comment by Sue — July 31, 2012 @ 9:45 pm
Thanks Sue. The place where these grow is part of a quite large swath of forest that seems to be have similar plant life, which is interesting because it includes forest in two different mountain ranges.
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Comment by montucky — August 1, 2012 @ 12:01 am
I wouldn’t have known any of these – each is beautiful in its own way. The bear grass flowers look like fireworks!
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Comment by Jo Woolf — August 1, 2012 @ 1:33 am
The bear grass often steals the show, but as you said, each flower is beautiful on its own.
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Comment by montucky — August 1, 2012 @ 10:19 pm
Such gorgeous colors, your wildflowers… I didn’t realize the forest held such coloration!
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Comment by FeyGirl — August 1, 2012 @ 5:08 am
These are very old forests and the roadless areas have been relatively untouched by “progress”. The diversity there is endless.
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Comment by montucky — August 1, 2012 @ 10:20 pm
So interesting wildflowers, even more so than the last post. I don’t know any of them, except some of the families. Very exciting wildflowers and I can understand it makes the hiking very exciting.
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Comment by bentehaarstad — August 1, 2012 @ 5:35 am
The flowers do make it exciting. I have wandered through these forests for many years and yet I still find flowers that I’ve never seen before.
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Comment by montucky — August 1, 2012 @ 10:22 pm
I like those monkey flowers. They don’t look anything like the Allegheny monkey flowers that we have here.I also like the bear grass-haven’t ever seen it. According to the USDA the Brewer’s mitrewort only grows in 6 states. I was hoping it grew here, but nope. You’re lucky to have it! I’m hoping you’ll also find some orchids so I can compare them with what we have.
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Comment by New Hampshire Gardener — August 1, 2012 @ 7:38 am
There are still several orchids native to this area that I haven’t encountered yet this summer but still hope to. This year though the times when I will be most able to get out will be pretty late in the summer. I will be making a trek tomorrow night, but I have no idea what will be there. It will be into an area of a 150 square mile wildfire that burned in 2007.
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Comment by montucky — August 1, 2012 @ 10:27 pm
As always wonderful photographs, we only have the hellebore and swamp currant in these parts. Loved the monkey flower, similar to another species we have that inhabits wetlands.
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Comment by Wild_Bill — August 1, 2012 @ 7:47 am
I haven’t seen this monkey flower in wetlands exactly, but I’ve seen it only along small streams and springs at an elevation of around 6000 feet.
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Comment by montucky — August 1, 2012 @ 10:29 pm
Nice selection, from the fluffy looking bear grass to the always-weird Indian pipe (which looks like something I’d expect to see in a Florida swamp).
Malcolm
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Comment by knightofswords — August 1, 2012 @ 8:51 am
The variety of flowers blooming can be interesting this time of year. It’s late summer in the lower elevations but very early spring higher up where snow banks still remain. I always end up in awe of it all.
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Comment by montucky — August 1, 2012 @ 10:34 pm
Super continuation of the series!!! You certainly have the variety where you live!!!
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Comment by dhphotosite — August 1, 2012 @ 9:44 am
Yes, and I love that variety. There is so much diversity in habitat here even in a relatively small geographical area and that plus the fact that much of it has not been altered by “civilization”. The flowers that display are the natural biodiversity of a healthy forest.
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Comment by montucky — August 1, 2012 @ 10:38 pm
The rose meadowsweet looks like a combination of our meadowsweet and steeplebush.
Does the swamp current have edible fruit?
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Comment by sandy — August 1, 2012 @ 10:01 am
Yes the fruit is edible but is usually used to make jelly. I have eaten the berries but haven’t found them especially tasty by themselves.
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Comment by montucky — August 1, 2012 @ 10:40 pm
The Subalpine Spiraea, so pretty. But I love that bear grass! Your photos convey the lushness of the forest so well.
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Comment by Candace — August 1, 2012 @ 11:13 pm
This particular part of the forest is especially lush because it gets a lot of rainfall and snow and the forest is heavy enough that it retains the water throughout the hot dry parts of summer. In a few days I will post some trail photos and photos of the lakes there, including one that I especially like.
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Comment by montucky — August 1, 2012 @ 11:33 pm
Wonderful, Terry.
We have a type of spirea in our garden, by the way. I love the flowers. 🙂
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Comment by Val — August 2, 2012 @ 12:11 pm
Spiraea must be a very successful plant. There are many species spread across the world! It does seem to attract insects/pollinators.
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Comment by montucky — August 3, 2012 @ 8:14 pm
What a huge amount of lovely, but unknown flowers. Spiraea densiflora is not found in the nature here, but it is sold in some garden shops. Monotropa hypopitys is here in Finland and I have a photo from it. Great presentation of flowers in Your area Terry.
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Comment by Sartenada — August 2, 2012 @ 10:42 pm
Thanks Matti! It’s very interesting that Monotropa is found there also!
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Comment by montucky — August 3, 2012 @ 8:16 pm
Hi Montucky, Nice to view flowers in the morning! I also have Spirea around here growing along the road. I had a much more domestic Spirea at the lake house as a front yard landscape plant. Beautiful flowers! Have a great day today!
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Comment by wildlifewatcher — August 3, 2012 @ 7:51 am
I found some today that I think is a white variety, but I haven’t had a chance to look it up yet.
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Comment by montucky — August 3, 2012 @ 8:17 pm
very green!!
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Comment by skouba — August 3, 2012 @ 2:53 pm
These are in the Coeur d’Alene Mountains where the forest is dense and it gets a lot of precipitation.
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Comment by montucky — August 3, 2012 @ 8:18 pm
Oh! There’s the bear-grass you told me about! And I love the subalpine spiraea – no doubt a cousin to the wonderfully fragrant spiraea we called bridal wreath. Like so many others who come by here, I just can’t help being amazed by the variety of flowers. I do love the name “Fool’s Huckleberry”. I wonder who the original fool was? 😉
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Comment by shoreacres — August 3, 2012 @ 3:02 pm
I have been amazed at the number of different species that are native here. I hadn’t realized it until I began to photograph them.
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Comment by montucky — August 3, 2012 @ 8:19 pm
Yes, this is the time of year when a very hot Texas is a little envious of a cooler Montana and the wildflowers that that coolness calls forth. We don’t have your bear-grass, but in the spring we have a relative that looks somewhat similar:
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Comment by Steve Schwartzman — August 4, 2012 @ 3:00 pm
We have those too, and they do like a little like the bear grass in miniature.
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Comment by montucky — August 4, 2012 @ 3:50 pm
To single out but one, that has to be the prettiest picture of beargrass blooming I’ve ever seen. Fireworks is a good description. (Also, if you imagine looking down on just the two outside blooms, you can see why some Native Americans called them “Maiden’s breasts”.
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Comment by Kim — August 6, 2012 @ 9:12 am
Bear grass is high on my list of favorites. This year has not been the best for them though: I hope next year will be better.
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Comment by montucky — August 6, 2012 @ 9:16 pm
Excellent photography of interesting plants! Ohio doesn’t have much like these!
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Comment by Watching Seasons — August 9, 2012 @ 10:33 am
Thanks! I am constantly amazed at the diversity of the wildflowers here.
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Comment by montucky — August 9, 2012 @ 7:49 pm
Reblogged this on Priyanka Farber Journal and commented:
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Comment by wokspefarenew1983 — September 3, 2012 @ 10:22 pm