Part of an on-going project to capture the wildflowers that grow in my area of the world.
Pincushion or Ball Cactus (Coryphantha vivipara)
So this one deserves a story... I have been 'chasing' this flower for three years now and finally managed to capture it albeit without a photo I am truly pleased with. A fellow trail walker alerted me to the fact they were in bloom and beat it over to a known patch the following day. When I headed back to the following day to try and capture some better photos they were completely closed-up after a grand total of 24 to 36 hours in bloom. The so-called patch is about 100 square meters (about the size of a very small apartment) and everyone of the 100 or so plants were no longer in bloom. Maybe next year ...
Two-grooved Milk Vetch (Astragalus bisulcatus)
Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia polyacantha)
Richardson’s Bitterweed (Hymenoxys richardsonii)
Wild Blue Flax (Linum perenne)
Wild Blue Flax and Blanketflower (Gaillardia aristata)
Bluebell (Campanula rotundifolia)
Bluebell
Purple Prairie Clover (Petalostemon purpureum)
Smooth Blue Beardtongue (Penstemon nitidus)
Prairie Crocus (Anemone patens)
Scarlet globe-mallow or Apricot mallow (Sphaeralcea coccinea)
Same image with two different treatments - colour graded (left) and painterly (right)
Old Man's Whiskers (Geum triflorum)
Wild Rose (Rosa woodsii), Wild Blue Flax (Linum perenne)
Dotted Blazing-star
Dotted Blazing-star
Dotted Blazing-star
Dotted Blazing-Star (Liatris punctata)
I love the common name of this flower - each flower is a brilliant purple five-pointed start and each stalk contains a multitude of flowers when in full bloom. The plants are often single stalks but may contain multiple stalks. They are unusual in that they bloom late in the season when most flowers have come and gone and they occupy the drier spots on the hillside in an area that is already very dry.
Crested Wheatgrass
Crested Wheatgrass
Crested Wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum)
Crested wheatgrass is not a native plant but an introduced forage grass that is now ubiquitous throughout the area.
