Early May wildflowers.

In spite of a cold spring and below normal rainfall here in western Montana, the wildflowers are blooming, but about two weeks later than usual. This morning there was fresh snow on the mountainsides a thousand feet above the valley floor.

Western Gromwell, Lemonweed ~ Lithospermum ruderale

Western Serviceberry, Saskatoon ~ Amelanchier alnifolia

Field Pepperweed, Field Peppergrass or Pepperwort, Field Cress ~ Lepidium campestre

Fairy Slipper, Calypso orchid ~ Calypso bulbosa

Marsh Valerian, Northern Valerian ~ Valeriana dioica

Hooker Fairy-bells ~ Prosartes hookeri

Kinnikinnik ~ Arctostaphylos uva-ursi

Field Chickweed ~ Cerastium arvense

Arrowleaf Balsamroot ~ Balsamorhiza sagittata

Black Hawthorn ~ Crataegus douglasii

Holboell’s rockcress ~ Boechera pendulocarpa

Menzies’ fiddleneck ~ Amsinckia menziesii

Meadow death-camas ~ Toxicoscordion venenosum

Large-flowered Tritelia ~ Triteleia grandiflora

April diversity

While reviewing some photos taken during 2013, I was reminded of the diversity that we encounter here during the month of April. Following are a few photos taken in April, 2013:

April 1, Thompson Pass ~ I hiked a mile and a half on snowshoes over six feet of snow to find a trail head but was unable to find it because all of the signs and markings were below the snow level.

April 5, our first Crocus was in bloom in one of the flower beds.

April 11, Western White Trillium, Trillium Ovatum in bloom at the bottom end of Munson Creek.

April 13, Darkthroat Shootingstar, Dodecatheon pulchellum blooming just above the river.

April 18, Western White Trillium, Trillium Ovatum in bloom 2 miles up the Munson Creek trail. This was the fourth consecutive year that I caught the spectacular bloom of the trilliums in that one small area along the trail.

April 21, A sudden spring snow brought a relapse back to winter.

April 22, Most of the previous day’s snow had already melted down by the river.

April 22, Holboell’s rockcress, Boechera pendulocarpa was in bloom on a warm rock face just above the river.

Interesting day

After a heavy rain during the night there was a very light rain this morning and I found several more flowers blooming near the river.

Holboell’s rockcress, Boechera pendulocarpa ~ Arabis holboellii

Narrow-leaved Desert Parsley, Lomatium triternatum

And a member of the Saxifrage family that I have seen before but just now identified.

Peak Saxifrage, Micranthes nidifica

Soon after these photos were take it began to snow…. hard! Five hours later and after about five inches of heavy, wet snow it looked like this:

After taking the previous photo I headed back to the house, then instead of going in, decided to hike down near the river and perhaps get an interesting photo in the storm. On the way, about a quarter of a mile from the house I heard a loud crack and looked toward the sound just in time to see a large dead pine tree fall across the highway. I headed straight for it to stop and direct traffic and perhaps remove enough of the tree to permit traffic flow. There was too much tree on the road, but a pickup stopped and two men got out to help, leaving their truck with flashers on to block the lane that was completely blocked by the tree. I jogged back to the house for my chain saw while they directed traffic. When I returned it took just a few minutes for the three of us to cut enough of the tree to clear the roadway and get traffic moving again. I’m glad the tree didn’t wait until dark to fall!

An interesting day!