Thorn Creek Native Seed

posted: Apr 16, 2009

Gerry Queener is a wonderful local photographer who graciously shares his amazing wildflower photos with us. He wrote the following about these Spring Beauties...

These are fresh this afternoon. Two days ago they were in bud, a week ago they were covered with 6" of snow!

I took the pics between 2:30 and 5:30 pm today. Nice light, but also some wind to deal with. These don't have the delicate magenta veining in the petals as some on a north slope that bloom later.

For those of you who do not know this flower (Claytonia lanceolata), it is sometimes called "Western Spring Beauty". Flowers are about nickel size, non-observers would likely miss them. I have seen large patches of this flower in relatively undisturbed areas, but on our place we only find them in scattered small groups. Note the magenta anthers (pollen bearing male flower parts, Aren't male usually the flashy ones?).