Yes, There Were Other Flowers Too; Lubec #2, part 2

I forgot to put a flower list on the entry for last weekend, mainly because we only saw 4 different blooms!  Kittentails, Douglasia, Buttercups, and Draba were the only flowers blooming; we saw lots of buds of things getting ready to bloom, but they don't get into the official count--you know, rules!  So we had a lot more to remember on the way home this time:

  Pasqueflower, Shooting Star, Glacier Lily, Trillium, Springbeauty, Rockcress, White Phlox,
  Cinquefoil, Western Saxifrage, Yellowbell, Prairiesmoke, and 2 kinds of Biscuitroot, yellow and white.

To be fair, I'll post some of Lynn's photos of another flower-nerd, hard at work in the sunshine!

It's a hard job, but worth the benefits!

Even though we saw some Kittentails last week, they were in even more profusion this time, and still as compelling for the camera.  At times we were on a "kittentail trail!"

Glacier Park peaks in the background.

This one didn't have any pink color, except for the ends of its stamens.

The yellow Draba was bigger this week also.

Springbeauty is an early flower that grows in wet ground, recently free of snow.

The White Phlox was beginning to emerge.

Flowers of the day: Pasqueflower, Douglasia and Kittentails all together:

Lubec Ridge

As we started to descend off the ridge (and out of the wind!), we found different plants lower in the woods and warmer meadows.  The Shooting Stars were coming out, but it was so windy I had a hard time getting one in focus; I had a little better chance down lower with the Yellowbells but it's still not quite there:

Yellowbells at Lubec are much bigger and grow in more clumps than they do at Lone Pine.

 Prairiesmoke

Glacier Lily and Trillium

Colter and Alli gave me a Buff (neck gaiter) and an inflatable seat pad for my birthday--perfect for my hikes this summer!

Pasqueflower Day; Lubec #2

The Pasqueflowers have arrived!  They are also called Prairie Crocus; a purple/lavender tulip-like flower blowing in the east-side wind.  We had gorgeous sunshine day--much warmer than last weekend, except we had more wind in the afternoon--typical for the east side of the Rockies.  After going through nearly 200 photos (just from today!), I've had a hard time choosing my favorites to share.  I think I'll post all the beautiful pasqueflower photos, and then everything else on another post! :-)

a flower-nerd hard at work!

This new bud opening had such unusual coloring with blue on the outside and nearly white on the inside.

This is an unusual variety with "extra" petals in the flower.

Lubec Ridge: Visit #1

Lubec Ridge is just south of Highway 2, before you get to East Glacier.  It gets fairly good sun exposure, so a lot of the area is free of snow and the wildflowers bloom a little earlier here.   It's a beautiful spot for Lynn and I to explore for wildflowers when we can't get up into the mountains.  Our view was stunning:  the snowy peaks of the southern end of Glacier Park.  It was a typical spring-in-Montana day with clouds and sunshine playing tag, chilly temperatures, but fairly calm--which is significant when you are on the east side of the mountains!

Calf Robe Mountain

Summit Peak

Warren and 2 friends were back-country skiing across these mountains and on over to Two Medicine Lake.  The plan was for us to drive on over there and pick them up, and then eat dinner at Serranos in East Glacier for part of my birthday celebration!

We weren't too hopeful about finding much in the way of flowers, and had some back-up plans.  But to our surprise there were lots of lovelies to find and potential ones to see next weekend!  The first flowers to greet us were Rocky Mountain Douglasia:

Very similar to moss Campion, this grows in mossy clumps and was scattered all over the rocky ground like splatters of pink paint!  We also saw lots of buds and foliage getting ready to bloom:  Pasqueflower, Shooting Stars, Buttercups, Penstemon, and some Saxifrage:

I don't know what kind of shrub this is.

These are last years Kinnikinnick berries.

This is Comb Draba, just starting.  Next week we'll see clumps of pink and yellow!

But the other star of the show is called Wyoming Kittentails.  We saw them at every stage, from bud to developed pollen head.  Lots of buds coming, so we plan to come back!

Well those would be a hard act to follow, but we had a visit from a little bluebird while we were eating our lunch, and he perched on these old logs for a long time so that I could get his photo!  He wasn't this close, the photo is taken on a pretty high zoom.

Lynn had me sit down by a clump of Douglasia to take a photo--the pink matched my raincoat!

Then I realized this crazy lime green moss we kept seeing matched her green jacket!  We really are flower-nerds!

We arrived at Two Medicine Lake just after the guys got there, and marveled at how good our timing all worked out.  They had had a good day as well.  Warren didn't take many photos on the trek; he was working too hard.  But these give you an idea of what it looked like.

Two Medicine Lake and Mount Sinopah

All in all a wonderful day outside, with promises of more wildflower beauty to come!  The title of this post has a deliberate #1 in it, because there will be #2, #3 and maybe more!!