April 24, 2015
In the last few days…
Many, many years ago, someone driving along Highway 200 tossed out the core of a pear and the seeds took root. The little tree was too close to the highway and the highway crews cut it down year after year. And each year at least a little part remained on the side furthest from the road. This year there is a branch that has formed what may be a new trunk, far enough from the roadway that it might survive. It has grown to about 8 feet high and is just covered with the most beautiful blossoms.
Pear blossoms
More species of wildflowers have also begun to bloom, some very early, I think, but surely very welcome!
Meadow death-camas ~ Zigadenus venenosus
Field Chickweed ~ Cerastium arvense
Slender Hawksbeard ~ Crepis atrabarba
Peak Saxifrage – Micranthes nidifica
Field Pussytoes ~ Antennaria neglecta
Upland Larkspur ~ Delphinium nuttallianum
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Montana Outdoors 
What an intrepid pear tree! The flowers never cease to amaze – great photos!
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Comment by morgoblogocon — April 24, 2015 @ 9:34 pm
Thank you. That tree illustrates the will to live that is ever-present in the plant world. The wildflowers are indeed amazing. there are so many varieties (I have cataloged over two hundred different species in the small area of approximately two thousand square miles in which I roam.
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Comment by montucky — April 25, 2015 @ 10:14 pm
So wonderful to see flowers again! I love that larkspur blue.
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Comment by wordsfromanneli — April 24, 2015 @ 9:45 pm
It is indeed wonderful. They are part of Nature’s annual celebration of life.
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Comment by montucky — April 25, 2015 @ 10:15 pm
A beautiful survivor!! May he or she thrive. 😊
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Comment by FeyGirl — April 24, 2015 @ 10:32 pm
I hope it will too, and believe that it probably will. It’s very beautiful this year.
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Comment by montucky — April 25, 2015 @ 10:15 pm
How lovely to read about the survival of the pear tree and see the beautiful blossoms. Thanks for sharing more lovely spring blossoms. It’s great to see the flowers in such detail on my screen. 🙂
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Comment by Jane — April 24, 2015 @ 11:10 pm
The wildflowers are a fascination for me. They are mostly quite small, but there is an incredible diversity in them about which we know so little. I believe that each one serves a purpose in the balance of Nature but I’m humbled in having to say that I understand hardly anything about that purpose.
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Comment by montucky — April 25, 2015 @ 10:19 pm
These flowers are already blooming in Montana?
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Comment by Michael Andrew Just — April 25, 2015 @ 12:30 am
Yes. This is the beginning of the wildflower season which will continue until the early snows of the next winter.
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Comment by montucky — April 25, 2015 @ 10:20 pm
Love that Field Pussytoes…..almost looks like an Australian Native plant.
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Comment by Vicki — April 25, 2015 @ 1:19 am
I have no reference material that shows me world-wide distribution of plants. This one has a wide distrubution across North America, and I wouldn’t be surprised if were to be found in somewhere in Australia as well.
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Comment by montucky — April 25, 2015 @ 10:23 pm
Lovely shots! Particularly liked the Meadow death-camas.
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Comment by centralohionature — April 25, 2015 @ 4:58 am
The death-camas is as its name implies, very toxic, the toxin being in its root bulbs. There is a blue camas, the bulbs of which look identical that was a very big food source for the native people here. They had to see the flowers of the plants before they could safely harvest the bulbs.
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Comment by montucky — April 25, 2015 @ 10:31 pm
Beautiful – love the pear blossom especially! Is the ‘death-camas’ as poisonous as it sounds?
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Comment by Jo Woolf — April 25, 2015 @ 5:27 am
Yes, the death-camas is very toxic for animals as well as people.
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Comment by montucky — April 25, 2015 @ 10:32 pm
The pear blossoms are beautiful, what a hardy plant that one is.
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Comment by Candace — April 25, 2015 @ 9:21 am
I’ve sure acquired a lot of respect for that little tree! It looks now like it might make it as long as they don’t have to widen the road through there.
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Comment by montucky — April 25, 2015 @ 10:33 pm
They’re all beautiful. I hope the pear tree is allowed to continue to grow there…must be wonderful to see it along the road at this time of year.
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Comment by seekraz — April 25, 2015 @ 11:51 am
I hope it survives too, and it will as long as it continues to expand into the territory away from the road. It’s gorgeous right now!
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Comment by montucky — April 25, 2015 @ 10:35 pm
That’s what you call perseverance. I hope the pear tree will be allowed to grow now. The flowers are indeed beautiful but sometimes pear blossoms can really stink. I’m guessing you didn’t smell those flowers but next time you’re near it give it a sniff.
The death camas flowers remind me of false hellebore flowers (Veratrum viride). I was just reading that false hellebore is every bit as deadly too. I think there is a western version as well.
The larkspur is a beautiful thing!
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Comment by New Hampshire Garden Solutions — April 25, 2015 @ 2:42 pm
This is not the species of pear that smells so bad. I’ve read about them recently, but this one is pleasant.
Veratrum viride is native here too. I see it every summer in several areas, usually at medium elevations (4000 – 6000 feet) in wooded areas, usually very near water.
This species of Larkspur is found only in the western states. It too is highly toxic to humans and also toxic to cattle but not to sheep.
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Comment by montucky — April 25, 2015 @ 10:44 pm
Beautiful shots Terry – wildflowers always make us very happy as they are a welcome break from the otherwise monotonous landscape. I guess you’ll be very happy with spring finally arriving?
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Comment by iAMsafari.com — April 26, 2015 @ 1:22 am
Thanks! Yes, very happy. Spring here is a marvelous thing, with wildflowers and sunshine, but also rain and often snow as well.
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Comment by montucky — April 26, 2015 @ 7:53 pm
I’ve never before caught the resemblance between pussy willows and pussy toes, but it’s obvious in this photo, and striking enough that I remembered the name before I read the caption. The pear story’s wonderful. I had a pyracantha I was particularly fond of up in the hill country, and it flourished, until the county came along to do some road widening. It didn’t make it, but its progency are thriving — a bit farther from the road!
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Comment by shoreacres — April 27, 2015 @ 5:45 am
The resiliency and sheer determination to live that plants have is astounding! In surroundings that give plants what they need (including no interference from our species) to live there are plants of all kinds growing on nearly every inch.
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Comment by montucky — April 27, 2015 @ 7:28 am
Gorgeous photos and a very nice nature study at same time. Thank You.
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Comment by Sartenada — April 28, 2015 @ 11:51 pm
It’s enjoyable to find the little things of beauty that are part of our world!
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Comment by montucky — April 29, 2015 @ 7:39 pm