Flowers Along My Way

It's my birthday and to celebrate, let's take a hike.

We'll walk from the cabin in search of wildflowers.  Spring came late to my mountains and when the snow finally left the plants seemed to say "look how long the days are, we better all bloom at once before winter sets in".

Up by the lake the meadow was filled with wild iris.

Leaving the lake we pick up the trail on a more arid section.  Here we find mule ears, paint brush, lupine and pennyroyal.

Pennyroyal

Have you ever had the pleasure of walking along a  trail with 

pennyroyal?  No?  Oh how I wish I could share the aroma through the internet.  It has a wonderful minty fragrance.  On a warm day it freely perfumes the air.  If it is being stingy with its scent, just rub your hand across its leaves.

There were several varieties of lupine.  I find these hard to identify but the most likely candidate seems to be spurred lupine

Dagger pod--Phoenicaulis cheiranthoides

Dagger pod is one of several species in the mustard family.  More common along the trail was its cousin, the yellow wallflower.

Copeland's Owl Clover--orthocarpus coplandii

The snapdragon family was well represented.  This lovely owl clover is one of my favorites but I saw several other paintbrush type flowers, in scarlet, orange and gold.

Davidson's Penstemon--penstemon davidsonii

There were two different penstemons in bloom

Elephants Head--pedicularis groenlandica

It's hard not to smile when encountering this member of the snapdragon family.

Another aromatic, this in the Amaryllis family, the wild onion.   I think this is a Swamp Onion as it was growing in a marshy area.

The snow has not entirely left my mountains.  These two were enjoying a little play in the snow below Cooney Lake.  I lingered a while at the lake.  I watched a gull watching a fisherman.  The bird kept flying over the fisherman's line.  I think the gull was hoping to make the fisherman's catch its own.

On my return to the cabin, I paused to enjoy the view.  I could see all the way to Nevada but Mono Lake is hidden from view.  It is behind the mountains on the right.

I hope that you enjoyed this view of my world, see more of our wonderful world at That's My World, Tuesday, hosted for us by Klaus, Sandy, Wren and Sylvia.