Where the wild things are part 7

 "Inside all of us is hope, 

Inside all of us is Fear,

 Inside all of us is adventure,

 Inside all of us is a Wild Thing"

Maurice Sendak, Where the wild things are

The kalmiopsis area is so fascinating with it's crazy geology and tons of endemic plants. This short blast through the lower elevations this past week was a great precursor for a bunch of upcoming trips. There wasn't much blooming at the upper elevations and snow still sat on the road near the babyfoot lake trailhead. But at the lower elevations, we saw some great wildflowers starting into bloom. The Trillium rivale and Erythronium citrinum and E. howellii. 

Some great forms of Eythronium citrinum, and I think mixed in was some Erythronium howelii, Honestly there were so many good plants to look at, I wasn't looking quite close enough to see if there were swollen appendages on the tepal tips of each one. 

Some great forms of Trillium rivale in the Eight Dollar mountain area. 

Trillium rivale, was blooming, not quite in sheets but in the shadier creek drainages
it was quite prolific. 

I'm not totally sure what to call this, Joleen was saying it was a double. but I'm not sure that is botanically quite the  right way to say it. Whatever you call it,  it was an Erythronium citrinum (or howellii)  with way too many tepals. 

 

Stay tuned for Part 8, as this trip included some great natural rock gardens, here is a little teaser:

Ceonothus pumilis, The Siskiyou Mat in the Kalmiopsis

I think this was a Draba looking fantastic in the crevices.

Further south in the Redwoods we got see some great forms of Iris douglasiana, the California Fetid Adders tongue in bloom and host of other cool plants including a run through some great nurseries and the Mendocino coast botanical garden and a visit to the home of the Godfather of American Horticulture, Luther Burbank. Lot's to blog about and so little time as I'm a full time nursery man now with a lot of propagation work to do now!

It set a record in northern California for heat one day, with temps in the 90's but it was mostly in the 70's and pleasant. 

Mark