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<\/a>White Fawn Lily, Erythronium oregonum.\u00a0 <\/em>The Oregon equivalent of the midwestern Trout Lily.<\/p>\n<\/em> \n April 27: Last snow on Marys Peak.<\/p>\n \n May 3, homestead flowers on Michele’s birthday:<\/p>\n Three-leaved Anemone, Anemone deltoidea.<\/em>\u00a0 These are abundant, especially along the creek near the top of the property.<\/p>\n Western Flowering Dogwood, Cornus nuttallii.\u00a0 <\/em>An understory tree with big white blossoms like a magnolia, but always pointing upward.\u00a0 When I first found one of these in the forest I thought I had discovered the White Tree, an exceptional anomaly of great beauty.\u00a0 There are at least ten of them on the property, with green bracts that rapidly turn white in late April\/early May, causing the flowers to “appear” almost overnight. Salal, Gaultheria shallon<\/em>.\u00a0 Very common understory shrub related to blueberries and huckleberries, and with edible (though not quite as sweet or delicious) fruit.\u00a0 One of these years I will make a salal fruit leather or a salal mead…<\/p>\n Western Starflower, Trientalis latifolia.\u00a0 <\/em>It took us a while to identify this one.<\/p>\n Oregon Iris, Iris tenax<\/em>.\u00a0 The largest and showiest of the spring woodland flowers, growing in spots where a bit more light shines through.<\/p>\n \n May 10-11:\u00a0 Oregon Coast.\u00a0 After a few weekends spent working on projects and too long away from the ocean, we headed west to Newport, camping at Beverly Beach, accidentally seeing some whales at Depoe Bay, hiking to Drift Creek Falls, doing our best to identify birds by their songs, and returning via our bees near Jefferson. Ocean sunset at Beverly Beach<\/p>\n Southward vista from Cape Foulweather between Newport and Depoe Bay.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ve gotten behind on posting Homestead wildflowers.\u00a0 The maples are leafed out now, casting the understory into shade and marking the end of the main sequence of ephemeral flowers.\u00a0 There are still some new ones appearing, and I will keep … Continue reading <\/a>Oregon Grape, Mahonia aquifolium.\u00a0 <\/em>Very common on the forest floor, along with salal and sword ferns.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a>Vine Maple, Acer circinatum.<\/em>\u00a0 Our main understory tree, growing in graceful curves and arches.<\/p>\n<\/a>Hooker’s Fairybells, Disporum hookeri.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a>Bigleaf Maple, Acer macrophyllum.<\/em>\u00a0 The dominant deciduous tree here, making up ~30% of the forest canopy.\u00a0 The flowers produce abundant nectar for bees in April, though cool rainy weather often prevents them from collecting much.\u00a0 This year we had enough warm weather during the maple bloom to get some surplus honey from the hives.<\/p>\n<\/a>It was a bad winter for snow on the mountain, and I never got in a good powder ski.\u00a0 Many times it would snow from a dusting to a few inches and then melt, but it was a far cry from the 3+ foot snowpack of the last two years.\u00a0 A cool showery pattern brought temperatures down enough for snow, and I convinced Liz to make the short trip to the top to see the last snow of the season.<\/p>\n<\/a>Yellow Glacier Lily, Erythronium grandiflorum,<\/em> poking through the snow.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n