Feathery False Lily of the Valley ~ Maianthemum racemosum
Wild Strawberry ~ Fragaria virginiana
Upland Larkspur ~ Delphinium nuttallianum
New wildflowers are emerging daily in the valley but the high trails are still under snow:
May 22, 2017
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Montana Outdoors 
The Upland Larkspur has a rather interesting centre. Do those greyish-mauve centre parts open to reveal the stamens?
I suspect if I was on the trail with you I’d be too busy looking for wildflowers and not actually walk very far at all 🙂
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Comment by Vicki — May 22, 2017 @ 7:49 pm
Yes, they do. It’s a rather strange blossom.
You would fit right in with my hiking style because that’s what I do, often hiking at a rate of less than a mile an hour. I do end up spending over 12 hours on a trail some times though.
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Comment by montucky — May 22, 2017 @ 8:02 pm
That feathery false lily of the valley intrigued me. It’s a different genus, but it resembles a “green lily” I found in the hill country — which is also called a feathershank. Like yours, it has those interesting stamens, but the one I found doesn’t branch. It’s a single stalk, with the bloom at the top and very thin leaves. It’s a beautiful thing, as is yours, and so very interesting.
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Comment by shoreacres — May 22, 2017 @ 8:03 pm
The Christmas tree-like flower of this one is at the end of a very long stalk with the large leaves you can see in the photo shooting out horizontally from it. Depending on the surrounding foliage the long stalk can stand up vertically or, as this one was, just lie horizontally along the ground.
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Comment by montucky — May 22, 2017 @ 8:30 pm
Ours is on a proportionally long stalk, too. Once I find a decent photo of it, I’ll be posting it on my blog. I spent two days on something called the Willow City Loop, and it was just splendid — lots of pretty flowers.
I must say, once yours get started, they certainly are enthusiastic.
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Comment by shoreacres — May 22, 2017 @ 8:32 pm
There will probably be an interval now before too many more new flowers bloom. Tomorrow I will be mostly above the flowers (I think) scouting for a place to cut firewood. (Actually checking on the road conditions at an altitude that may still have deep snow banks.)
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Comment by montucky — May 22, 2017 @ 8:49 pm
Larkspur blue. I love it!
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Comment by wordsfromanneli — May 22, 2017 @ 8:51 pm
It’s a blue with a purple cast to it. This was shot in full sun and still the color was very deep.
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Comment by montucky — May 22, 2017 @ 8:57 pm
I like those deep blues (and lavenders) much better than the sky blues.
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Comment by wordsfromanneli — May 23, 2017 @ 8:17 am
Lovely. U R Great.Thanks.
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Comment by nvsubbaraman — May 22, 2017 @ 9:30 pm
Thanks nvsubbaraman. It’s the flowers that are great though.
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Comment by montucky — May 22, 2017 @ 9:38 pm
Montucky, I’m thinking you are a very patient man to go searching for all these new arrivals sometimes hidden from direct view. Your photos surely do brighten all your readers’ day!
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Comment by Mama's Empty Nest — May 23, 2017 @ 7:42 am
It is my fondest hope that my photos will brighten someone’s day! Thank you!
I just love being in the back country and on the trails. Encountering the flowers just happens. After many years my eyes automatically pick up any of the flower colors, even just a speck of color, so I get to enjoy the scenery and the flowers come as a bonus.
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Comment by montucky — May 23, 2017 @ 5:13 pm
The feathery false lily of the valley is interesting. It’s in the same family as our Canada mayflower (Maianthemum canadense) which is blooming right now as well. They grow here by the many thousands, so much so that if they weren’t a North American native they’d probably be considered invasive.
Beautiful color on that larkspur!
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Comment by New Hampshire Garden Solutions — May 23, 2017 @ 3:16 pm
My favorite plants book and the USDA show that species is native to here too, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it. This one has very large leaves and lots of them. I can get quite dense in places but not over large areas. I think it needs a balance between sun and shade that it gets here only in certain places.
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Comment by montucky — May 23, 2017 @ 5:18 pm
The Canada Mayflower has smallish oval leaves maybe 3-4 inches long. There are 2 per plant with a short flower spike in the middle. It prefers shade.
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Comment by New Hampshire Garden Solutions — May 23, 2017 @ 5:21 pm
I’ll watch for it this summer.
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Comment by montucky — May 23, 2017 @ 6:49 pm
I love very much Larkspur. Gorgeous se of beautiful photos among which I loved the last one. The landscape seems very similar which we have in southern Finland.
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Comment by Sartenada — May 24, 2017 @ 2:14 am
The larkspur is very different, especially its color, and that it likes very dry sidehills in full sun.
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Comment by montucky — May 24, 2017 @ 8:13 am
Small luminous flowers that arise from the snow, a magic buoyant force!
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Comment by Hanna — May 24, 2017 @ 5:05 am
They really are magical. There seems to be a species fit for every possible environment.
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Comment by montucky — May 24, 2017 @ 8:14 am
Gorgeous photos! Spring has such a joyful energy.
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Comment by Jo Woolf — May 25, 2017 @ 5:07 am
It does! It would have it even if it didn’t follow the dreariness of winter.
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Comment by montucky — May 25, 2017 @ 6:09 pm
U R Great. I love very much Larkspur.
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Comment by DevBlog — May 26, 2017 @ 2:10 am
Thank you! The Larkspur is quite distinctive.
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Comment by montucky — May 26, 2017 @ 7:11 pm
The wild strawberry flower is very pretty and delicate looking.
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Comment by Candace — May 26, 2017 @ 6:38 pm
Several years ago I brought home some forest mulch for a flower bed that must have had strawberries in it and now a section is just covered with them. Their fruit is very sweet but also very small and I just leave the fruit for the Robins.
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Comment by montucky — May 26, 2017 @ 7:13 pm
Just beautiful 😀
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Comment by Julie@frogpondfarm — May 26, 2017 @ 11:44 pm
Thanks Julie!
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Comment by montucky — May 27, 2017 @ 6:24 am
U R Great. Just beautiful 😀
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Comment by arsenios — June 13, 2017 @ 7:55 am