Tiny pale flowers
Curving fragrant slender stems
Sagebrush pirouette
Friday Flowers
Sagebrush Pirouette Haiku: Friday Flowers
Friday Flowers
Friday Flowers with a Friend
I’m treasuring Friday flowers with a friend before the weather changes. It was warm and sunny here yesterday but snow is predicted this weekend. The weather in the high desert is always interesting. 😁
Friday Flowers
A dawn bouquet: Friday Flowers
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A swirling clematis: Friday Flowers
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Sharp and soft: Friday Flowers
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Purple Pretties: Friday Flowers
Here are a few of my purple pretties in full bloom in my High Desert yard in Central Oregon.
Lupine 
Phacelia 
Lavender 
Larkspur 
Aster
Delicate Beauties: Friday Flowers & LAPC
I don’t see the desert as barren at all; I see it as full and ripe. It doesn’t need to be flattered with rain. It certainly needs rain, but it does with what it has, and creates amazing beauty.
Joy Harjo
Here are a few delicate beauties growing in the High Desert near Bend, Oregon. Enjoy their rainbow colors and gentle grace.
Sand lily – High Desert Star: Friday Flowers
The sand lily, also known as the star lily, is a delicate perennial wildflower found in western North America. It grows in sagebrush deserts, open montane forests, and in sandy and rocky soils.
The plant above is growing near sagebrush in an uncultivated part of my property near Bend, Oregon. There is only one plant and I look forward to it blooming every spring.
Cherry blossom time: Friday Flowers
Friday Flowers
Fringed Gentian: Friday Flowers
The fringed gentian, Gentianopsis thermalis, grows in meadows, bogs, and on moist ground. This species prefers growing in warm places and it’s common near geysers and hot springs in Yellowstone National Park. It is the official flower of the park.
This plant grows to a height of 4-16 inches and blooms in May through August. This annual has purple flowers 1.5-3 inches in length. The showy flowers are fringed along the edges.
Fringed gentians can be found across northern Canada and south through the Rocky Mountains and into parts of New Mexico, Utah, and Nevada.
Native Americans used gentians to treat headaches and as an antidote to witchcraft.
Fun fact: The flowers curl up and close on cloudy days leaving just the tops visible. The closed flowers resemble a small windmill.
Roses-Summer Blooms & Fall Fruit: Friday Flowers
I enjoy watching these roses growing along the Mill A Loop trail along the Deschutes River in Bend, Oregon. They produce a bounty in the summer and the fall for walkers and wildlife.
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Yellow violets in bloom: Friday Flowers
Lilies in the Rain: Friday Flowers
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Reclining Grass Widow:Friday Flowers
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Harvesters of gold: Friday Flowers
Bright yellow blossoms
Inviting hovering bees
To harvest their gold
Prairie Smoke: Friday Flowers
A Rose by Another Name
Prairie smoke, Geum triflorum, is a native plant of the prairies and it’s a less showy member of the rose family. The sepals on their droopy flowers are fused shut so they can’t open fully. I was drawn to this plant with its plain flowers and deeply serrated leaves.
The plants grow 6-10″ tall and bloom in late spring through early summer. Once the flowers are fertilized, they are followed by feathery wispy “fruits” (achenes) that somewhat resemble smoke. Another common name for this plant is Old Man’s Whiskers. The semi-evergreen leaves turn varying shades of red, purple, and orange in the fall.
Continue readingChives vignette: Friday Flowers
The color has faded in these blossoms but they are still beautifully framed by the long spiky leaves on this chive plant.
Friday Flowers
Fuzzy lupine blossoms: Friday Flowers
Colorful Border on Fall’s Eve: Friday Flowers
A colorful border full of flowers on the last day of summer at Oregon Garden in Silverton, Oregon.
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Corn Flowers: Friday Flowers
“A light wind swept over the corn, and all nature laughed in the sunshine.”
Anne Bronte
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Quote on the Cosmos: Friday Flowers
Other times, you’re doing some piece of work and suddenly you get feedback that tells you that you have touched something that is very alive in the cosmos.
Leonard Nimoy
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Purple Crocus Vignette: Friday Flowers
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Purple polka dot pansies: Friday Flowers
Pretty purple pansies.
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Oakleaf Hydrangea: Friday Flowers & FOTD
Unusual hydrangea
This type of hydrangea has interesting flowers and foliage. This shrub blooms over a long period of time in the summer. The white flowers fade to pink in the fall. The large leaves turn maroon, orange-bronze, or red in autumn.
Flower of the Day – Pink hydrangea
Friday Flowers
Antelope bitterbrush in bloom: Friday Flowers
Bitterbrush blossoms
The antelope bitterbrush appears to be reaching for the sky in this photograph. This plant gets its common name due to the fact that it is so important to wildlife. Deer, elk, moose, mountain sheep, and pronghorn (antelope) browse on its small three-toothed leaves and use its dense growth for cover. It’s also important for deer mice, kangaroo rats, sage grouse, and Lewis’ woodpecker.
I have seen plants over twelve feet tall but in my yard, they only reach a height of about three feet. My “landscapers” love to prune them. In certain parts of this plant’s range, bitterbrush can comprise up to 91% of mule deer’s diet in September.
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Flower Border at Old Mill: Friday Flowers
Flower border in full bloom
It’s been a while since I walked one of my favorite short trails in Bend, Oregon . The flower border along the Mill A Loop trail is spectacular right now. Even my dog had to stop and smell the roses.
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Summer & Winter Prickly Pear Cactus: Friday Flowers
Prickly pear cactus in my garden
The prickly pear cactus in my garden are highlighted in the summer with bright yellow flowers and in the winter with layers of snow. The sharp needles make their presence known throughout the year.
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Ice plant in my garden: Friday Flowers
These colorful ice plant blossoms brighten up my garden in the spring and summer months. This a drought resistant plant that the bees love. The small succulent leaves are interesting too. Ice plants are a low-maintenance ground cover plant that does well in areas with hot, dry summers.
Apple blossoms: Friday Flowers
McCoin Orchard apple blossoms
I saw these apple blossoms in the McCoin Orchard near the trailhead for the Gray Butte trail. This orchard, near Terrebonne, Oregon, was originally planted in the late 1880s and it was rescued by range specialists 100 years later.
There’s a nice hike here with some spectacular views of the country. The close up views of spring flowers are great as well.
Tatarian honeysuckle blossoms: Friday Flowers
Pretty but invasive
These honeysuckle blossoms are pretty but they are on an introduced plant that has been so successful it’s considered invasive in some parts of the country. These tall shrubs are growing along the Deschutes River and they produce a lot of berries later in the summer.
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Red Hot Poker: Friday Flowers
Red Hot plants in the garden
Sometimes the common name of a plant really fits. Here is one of those plants. The red hot poker plant is native to Africa and it grows well in the high desert of Oregon. It is a drought tolerant perennial that has both herbaceous and evergreen species. They are also known as torch lilies.
Red hot plants can grow to a height of five feet and their colorful flowers attract hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees. Orioles are also attracted to the nectar. Here’s a post from Mountain Valley Growers showing orioles busy sipping nectar. This plant is deer and rabbit resistant.
The Better Homes and Garden site refers to this plant as “an eye-catching burst of color that is both whimsical and architectural.” Yes, that description fits the red hot poker well. 🙂
Lilacs in bloom: Friday Flowers
The special scent of lilacs
The smell of moist earth and lilacs hung in the air like wisps of the past and hints of the future. Margaret Millar
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Cup of Gold: Friday Flowers
A dawn lily
Here’s a photo I took in the early morning hours of a daylily splashed with rain. It looks like a perfect little cup of gold.
You get a two-fer today since this is being posted under Friday Flowers and Cee’s Flower of the Day . Enjoy!
Lupine in my garden: Friday Flowers
A stately lupine
This lupine flower stands tall and stately in my garden. Though different from its wild cousins, it is just as beautiful.
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Strawberry Blossoms: Friday Flowers
Things to come
Delicate pink strawberry blossoms capturing the passing rain to feed the succulent fruit to come.
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Wild Rose: Friday Flowers
A moment with a rose
There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
I was fortunate to share a moment with a wild rose near Clarno, Oregon. It is beautiful and delicate when viewed close up.
Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses.
Alphonse Karr
Zooming out you can see how its blossoms and fruits are protected by sharp thorns. As you make your way through the thorns of life, keep looking forward towards the moments of peace offered by its flowers.
Flowers & flags: Friday Flowers
Bright yellow flowers on a currant shrub with colorful flags flying in the background. The bridge passes over the Deschutes River in Bend, Oregon.
See my post about one of the short, easy trails in this area here.
Friday Flowers
Gray Butte Hike: Wildflowers & Views
Scenic views all around
The hike to Gray Butte, located in the Crooked River National Grassland near Terrebonne, Oregon, is great to walk in the spring because of the wildflowers. I went here in May and we saw quite a few colorful flowers. The habitat is sagebrush steppe with scattered western juniper trees.
View of Mt. Jefferson from Gray Butte trail
I have been here twice with Leslie Olson, one of my favorite guides with Bend Parks and Recreation. One time we went on Cole Loop Trail #854 and the other time we went on Gray Butte Trail #852. The roads to the trailheads have sections that are rough but passable. We did out-and-back hikes of around four to five miles total distance. They are listed as easy to moderate hikes. Here’s a map that shows both trails.
McCoin Orchard at Gray Butte trailhead
A piece of history
My most recent hike began at Gray Butte trailhead, elevation 3,800 feet, near the McCoin Orchard. The orchard was originally planted by Julius and Sarah McCoin in 1886. The property was purchased by the U.S. Forest Service in the 1930’s. At one time there were 100 fruit trees here – apple, pear, plum, etc. Grassland range specialists saved the surviving trees in the 1980’s. When I was there, the trees were in full bloom.
Spring lupine: Friday flowers
Blooming lupine amidst obsidian
Lupine plants were in full bloom on a recent trip I took to Glass Buttes, Oregon. They have beautiful flowers and a unique leaf form. The palmately divided leaves of lupine can have five to 28 leaflets. Water often funnels down the leaflets and collects at their base.
Shooting Stars: Friday Flowers
“Stretching his hand up to reach the stars, too often man forgets the flowers at his feet.” Jeremy Bentham
Shooting Stars at Zion National Park, Utah