Flowers in Forests

Jay Jay Jeffery
Jul 23, 2017 · 5 min read

We’ve been on the road all day. Have you ever driven a 30 year old car through the desert in the summer without A/C? It’s rough. But we’re in a National Forest now at some elevation so it’s cool after the 100 degree day of sweating in our seats.

I wasn’t sure I’d have reception to post anything for you guys today but turns out I actually have zero bars 4G … whatever that is. See:

(Yes. This is Trill Dog with dreads.)

I was trying to think about what to write about other than the heat and boring drive when I saw my first wildflower at our site. And over the next 10 minutes I did a survey all within 20 feet of our parking spot for the night. Here’s what I found:

My plant guidebook doesn’t cover Utah so I don’t know what this plant is. It has distinctive leaves and these delicate white flowers. Any ideas?!

I know this one! It’s BEDSTRAW. I can tell because of the 4 leaves coming of the stem in an almost square pattern and the white bunch of flowers. It’s a different species than the ones I encountered in Alaska. It’s leaves are not as narrow.

Some type of WILD GERANIUM (?)…

The lovely YARROW of course …

This beauty is at the tip of my tongue. What is it?

This shrub is all over the place. I want to say BLUEBERRY(?) but I’m just not sure. There certainly aren’t any blueberries on it.

ASPENS

I want to say MALLOW(?) of some type but I’m just not familiar with this plant.

Here’s a close up of the same plant.

The stately SAGE smells so good!

Another I feel I should know but I don’t. Anyone know?

A type of ASTER. I’ve seen a ton of these on our trip.

A gorgeous THISTLE preparing to bloom.

I have never met this gorgeous plant before. It screams, “Hummingbird!” Red with tube like flowers and feathery foliage similarish to that of chamomile.

I had to take a close up of these beautiful flowers. This was the only one of this plant that I found. Do you know it?

Can’t forget the DANDILION.

Another one I just don’t know.

This is the leaf of the yellow flowered plant from above. Honestly I recognize the leaves but I’ve never attempted to identify them before. Someone’s gotta know what this is.

This large leafed plant is also new to me. Stunningly unique beside the variety of neighbors it has. Any ideas?

Some more new friends, yellow flowers.

Just a quick shot of the diversity here.

And then I spotted something …

Behind that stump …

Could it be …

A close up reveals that YES! It is GOLDENROD!

At first I was afraid all the COLUMBINES were done flowering but turns out that this beauty was waiting to see us (you and I).

I’m pretty bummed I missed this plant flowering. It’s as tall as me with beautiful seed heads still intact.

A close up … I wish I could identify it. Thoughts?

And here are some pretty grasses with yellow pollen still attached.

All that in a 15 minute walk. Wild huh? I wish I could identify more plants for you but turns out when you change locations a lot you always have new plants to learn. I’ll be harvesting a few of the ones I do know tomorrow morning. I’ll post a picture of my harvest tomorrow for you to see. If I’m wrong about anything, let me know. I’m continuously learning.

Hope your sunset was as beautiful as ours.

Have a great night everyone.

Jay Jay Jeffery
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