These are the rest of the wildflowers that I was able to photograph during May. Late rains have slowed down the bloom, but it looks like June will be a good month for flowers.
Meadowrue ~ Thalictrum occidentale
Field Pussytoes ~ Antennaria neglecta
Bog Saxifrage ~ Micranthes oregana
This is a rather unusual member of the saxifrage family, but rather interesting because of the colors.
Upland Larkspur ~ Delphinium nuttallianum
Shooting Star ~ Dodecatheon pulchellum
Indian Paintbrush ~ Castillleja miniata
Wild Violets ~ Viola Adunca
Lanceleaf Springbeauty ~ Claytonia lanceolata
Fairy Slipper ~ Calypso Bulbosa
Probably the prettiest of the wild orchids in this region.
Elegant Cats-ear, Northwestern Mariposa Lily ~ Calochortus elegans
It’s a little unusual to see these in multiples.
Bitterroot ~ Lewisia rediviva
The Bitterroot is the state flower of Montana. It was cherished by the indigenous people for its roots.
Northern Cinquefoil, Villous Cinquefoil ~ Potentilla villosa
A beautiful collection of delicate colour and design!
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Comment by wordsfromanneli — June 9, 2019 @ 12:53 pm
In spring and early summer it seems as though Nature is presenting a time-lapse display of flowers.
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Comment by montucky — June 9, 2019 @ 9:40 pm
Oh – these are beautiful. Really like the Cat’s Ear – have never seen this one before.You even captured a few insects.
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Comment by peggyjoan42 — June 9, 2019 @ 1:46 pm
It’s easy to become enamored by the wildflowers, isn’t it!
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Comment by montucky — June 9, 2019 @ 9:43 pm
Yes, wildflowers are gorgeous.
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Comment by peggyjoan42 — June 10, 2019 @ 3:47 am
Agreed!
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Comment by montucky — June 10, 2019 @ 8:35 pm
Lovely flowers one and all!
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Comment by centralohionature — June 9, 2019 @ 4:12 pm
I agree: they are all lovely!
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Comment by montucky — June 9, 2019 @ 9:45 pm
They’re all beautiful but that’s a fantastic shot of the meadow rue with perfect lighting to show it at its best.
Fairy slippers are supposed to grow here but I still haven’t found one. It’s a beautiful thing!
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Comment by New Hampshire Garden Solutions — June 9, 2019 @ 4:41 pm
I hope you will be able to find an area where the Fairy Slippers grow. Some years they seems to be plentiful and grow in bold places where they can be easily seen, but in other years they hide below dense underbrush (as this one did) and are nearly undetectable.
I liked the light on the meadow rue too. I used a combination of an exposure bias of -1/3 to darken the scene and an on-camera flash set at a flash compensation of -1.3 to put just a little light on the plant. I liked how it came out.
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Comment by montucky — June 9, 2019 @ 10:01 pm
I was told by an old timer once where fairy slippers once grew. I check there each year but so far haven’t seen even a sign of them.
Your choice was perfect for the meadow rue. I’ll have to try it when ours blooms!
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Comment by New Hampshire Garden Solutions — June 10, 2019 @ 2:56 am
It’s easy to miss the blooming time for Fairy Slippers, and they are very good at hiding. I found the one in this photo by crawling through some dense brush looking for them. They were not visible from a standing position.
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Comment by montucky — June 10, 2019 @ 8:34 pm
Wonderful collection of spring flowers. Your camera and your eye do a marvelous job.
When I was living in eastern Montana, I enjoyed when a wet spring turned to crowns on top of the ravines in the Badlands into a green oasis. Such moments were quite rare.
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Comment by bigskybuckeye — June 9, 2019 @ 5:16 pm
Thank you!
I also love those rare and unexpected moments that sometimes the seasons provide! Encountering them is part luck and part just being outside as much as possible.
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Comment by montucky — June 9, 2019 @ 10:05 pm
All so beautiful and dainty, and oh my, I so love the Elegant Cats-ear, stunning!!
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Comment by bayphotosbydonna — June 9, 2019 @ 8:05 pm
That’s the allure of the wild flowers! They are all amazing creations.
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Comment by montucky — June 9, 2019 @ 10:07 pm
Quite a few flowers similar to what we have here in the Coast Range. Due to our serpentine soil, many of them are miniature versions. I found some Mariposa Lilies here that were hardly larger than the tip of my pinky finger. I really need to gather my wits and post some of them. 😀
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Comment by Gunta — June 9, 2019 @ 9:56 pm
We do share a lot of wildflower species within our areas, more than I originally thought. Mariposa Lilies are intriguing because of what I perceive to be a large range of variations within a single species, some of which I speculate may be due to specific weather conditions in the blooming season.
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Comment by montucky — June 9, 2019 @ 10:14 pm
We’re finding that altitude and soil conditions play a huge part as well. The areas that have the serpentine seem to create miniature versions of many of the wildflowers.
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Comment by Gunta — June 9, 2019 @ 10:28 pm
Stunningly beautiful, Montucky! That Meadowrue looks like a very fancy chandelier!
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Comment by de Wets Wild — June 10, 2019 @ 12:28 am
Thanks! I thibk the Meadowrue has a very pleasant look to it; rather tranquil.
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Comment by montucky — June 10, 2019 @ 8:31 pm
Shooting star is my favourite!
Reading the comments, I can see why you get such excellent photos! Exposure bias, flash compensation – your skill set includes things far beyond my ‘point, shoot’…
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Comment by Margy — June 10, 2019 @ 7:03 am
I experiment a lot. Sometimes it works.
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Comment by montucky — June 10, 2019 @ 8:42 pm
Beautiful!
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Comment by Pit — June 10, 2019 @ 9:25 am
Thanks! I think they are too!
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Comment by montucky — June 10, 2019 @ 8:43 pm
Beautiful! I love seeing your flowers every year, through your photos.
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Comment by Jo Woolf — June 11, 2019 @ 12:25 am
Thanks Jo. The fascination of the wild flowers always remains.
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Comment by montucky — June 11, 2019 @ 5:33 pm
Spring has provided another opportunity for me to view your excellent selection of flowers.
Always a pleasure working through your posts of the latest blooms.
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Comment by David A Lockwood — June 12, 2019 @ 7:38 am
Thank you David. I’m pleased that you have enjoyed the wild flowers.
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Comment by montucky — June 12, 2019 @ 9:05 pm
Do you have photos of the female Meadowrue? I’ve found a tiny little flower in clusters that, after several hours of internet research, leads me to the possibility that it might be the female flower of a plant similar to the Thalictrum fendleri except mine is only a foot tall at best. And what it is doing in a prairie ditch is kind of a mystery – except it is growing in among Lady’s Slipper Orchids that by rights, shouldn’t be in a prairie ditch either. I’ll have to watch it over the next few days to see if there is a male plant there too.
http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/plants/Ranunculaceae/Thalictrum%20fendleri.htm
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Comment by Margy — June 12, 2019 @ 10:02 am
I do happen to have have a photo of a female plant:
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Comment by montucky — June 12, 2019 @ 10:10 pm
Beautiful photo. I was thinking mine was a Thalictrum occidentale too, but maybe not. Mine is definitely a Thalictrum though.
Your Flickr feed is a goldmine. I’ll have to bookmark it.
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Comment by Margy — June 13, 2019 @ 8:03 am
Thanks Margy. My Flickr site can help identifying the flowers in this area. If you want to do that, I have an album there on wildflowers that has about 2200 photos and nearly all have ID’s. Also, if you click on any photo on my blog it will take you to the Flickr site.
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Comment by montucky — June 14, 2019 @ 3:31 pm
I had the pleasure last weekend of seeing some flowers related to yours: a species of larkspur, and two wild orchids. I was roaming in east Texas, far outside my usual haunts, and even got to see some bog plants — and two wild orchids! It was nearly as good as a trip to Montana — certainly as different. That bog saxifrage really appeals to me, and of course it’s great to see the bitterroot again. The photo of the meadow rue is fabulous. It’s an interesting plant all on its own, but your photo captures its complexity perfectly.
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Comment by shoreacres — June 12, 2019 @ 5:23 pm
An affinity for wildflowers certainly makes a trip more enjoyable, doesn’t it! And it doesn’t have to be an especially long trip either.
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Comment by montucky — June 12, 2019 @ 10:21 pm
I really enjoyed this delightful array of wildflowers, Montucky. There are some here that I am familiar with, and some I am not, so the ID subtitles are much appreciated. Fantastic photos of each one, crisp. Although I like all the flowers, these are the ones that I found especially stunning: Meadowrue (so exotic), Upland larkspur (delphiniums can be so rich in color), wild violets (ahhh), Fairy slipper (wow, that’s a great treat), Elegant Cat’s Ear (new for me), Bitterroot (also new). I never tire of the shooting stars either. Great post, thank you.
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Comment by Jet Eliot — June 13, 2019 @ 1:10 pm
Thank you Jet. Wildflowers are a passion for me.
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Comment by montucky — June 14, 2019 @ 3:33 pm
Flowers are very interesting!
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Comment by terrepruitt — June 13, 2019 @ 11:30 pm
I love flowers in general, but wildflowers are especially fascinating.
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Comment by montucky — June 14, 2019 @ 3:34 pm
Yeah, they are now that I really look at them! Thank you for sharing!
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Comment by terrepruitt — June 15, 2019 @ 12:20 am
Beautiful flowers … I really like the cat’s ear too!
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Comment by Julie@frogpondfarm — June 15, 2019 @ 2:45 am
I love the variety of wildflowers. Amazing little beings!
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Comment by montucky — June 15, 2019 @ 8:49 pm
You’re making up with a big floral bang for the wildflowers you didn’t show in May.
Your picture of the meadowrue made me think of a graduating class of students with their mortarboards and tassels.
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Comment by Steve Schwartzman — June 15, 2019 @ 5:08 am
I’ve had a hard time keeping up with the flowers this year. Too many irons in the fire.
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Comment by montucky — June 15, 2019 @ 8:50 pm
These are all beautiful May flowers, Montucky! I especially love the bitterroot.
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Comment by Lavinia Ross — June 15, 2019 @ 11:46 pm
I love the bitterroot too. Sadly, they are not nearly as plentiful here as they used to be.
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Comment by montucky — June 17, 2019 @ 9:06 pm
Wow. How incredible beautiful flower photos! Thank You sharing Your photos with us.
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Comment by Sartenada — June 17, 2019 @ 11:32 pm
Thank you! I’m glad that you enjoy the flowers!
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Comment by montucky — June 18, 2019 @ 7:37 pm
Lovely! I especially like, as always, the Fairy Slippers, Shooting Stars, and Elegant Cat’s-Ears. Something about flowers that have obvious names. The Meadowrue is interesting, too.
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Comment by Candace — June 18, 2019 @ 11:57 am
We’ve kind of gotten right into the summer flowers, at least at the valley level. I had almost forgotten just how pretty they are!
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Comment by montucky — June 18, 2019 @ 7:38 pm
Lovely collection of flowers! I find it hard to focus the pussy toes as sharp as you have.
I still have not seen the bitterroot in person, though i did see the pygmy bitterroot for the first time. In fact I did not even know of them. I was with a MT. native plant group and said “what is this?”. Imagine my delight. They knew.
Rainy here too. Going to the Sun Rd. still not open. Need to camp as soon as the weather clears 😉
Lovely summer to you Terry.
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Comment by Tammie — June 22, 2019 @ 10:43 am
I’ve never seen the pygmy bitterroot. When I visited the site where I usually see bitterroots there were only a few in bloom and in a place where I couldn’t get off the road for pictures. This one was on a high ridge above town where I have seen a few before.
I just saw in the news that Going to the Run Road is now open all the way.
I hope your summer continues to be just as beautiful as it has been so far!
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Comment by montucky — June 23, 2019 @ 8:31 pm
Amazing set of flora images. Didn’t realize there was so much variety in Montana
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Comment by Michael Andrew Just — June 22, 2019 @ 10:39 pm
While our wildflowers are well spread out geographically as well as seasonally, there are a large number of species. I have photographed over 200 different species in just the small area through which I roam (about 2,000 square miles).
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Comment by montucky — June 23, 2019 @ 8:33 pm
Hi Montucky, As usual you have collected a beautiful variety of those photos of wildflowers. I love the Indidan Paintbrush as I used to live in East Texas and gee, next to the Bluebonnets, Texans do love those paintbrushes! Have a happy Independence Day!
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Comment by wildlifewatcher — July 3, 2019 @ 11:21 am
Thanks. Paintbrush are extra popular because they bloom all of the way until fall and live at nearly all elevations.
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Comment by montucky — July 4, 2019 @ 1:03 pm
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More: montucky.wordpress.com/2019/06/09/more-may-flowers/ […]
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Trackback by Homepage — August 10, 2019 @ 8:06 am
I hope summer is treating you kindly..
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Comment by Mother Hen — August 14, 2019 @ 5:19 pm
Thank you! I has been very pleasant and very busy!
I wish the same for you!
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Comment by montucky — August 14, 2019 @ 10:26 pm
You are welcome! That’s good to hear.. Thank you!
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Comment by Mother Hen — August 15, 2019 @ 5:50 pm