While Pacific Northwest Wildflowers are most abundant in spring, summer brings out a new group of blooms to add color to the season’s forests, wetlands and clearings. Some, such as the checkermallow, bloom mainly in early summer, while others, such as the tiger lily, flower through August.
Below are some of the colorful varieties to be seen.
Monkey Flower (Mimulus guttatus)
These relatively common flowers love water. They grow where falling water splashes them, and in the seeping water of rocky outcrops and hillsides. It takes on many forms, from tiny to three feet high, and from bright yellow to orange-yellow. It may be annual or perennial. The small oval leaves grow in pairs along the stems. Flower petals are arranged above a lip that often bears red dots. The sunny, cheerful-looking blossoms can remind viewers of a monkey, hence their name. It grows throughout the Pacific Northwest from March to September.
Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora)
This unusual plant is ghostly white and generally grows in the deep shade beneath conifer trees. It can shun the sun because it does not depend on sun for photosynthesis and does not produce the chlorophyll that makes most plants green. It is a saprophyte, living off the decaying plant material of the forest floor. Yet it is a flowering plant with a distinct blossom.
The leaves are more like scales along the stem. Flowers have five petals and droop downward, as though looking at the ground rather than up at the sun. They grow in the deep humus of forests throughout the Pacific Northwest. It’s most often seen in late June and July.
Mock Orange (Philadelphus lewisii)
The white flowers of this shrub or small tree can be seen in both damp forest edges and dry rocky areas east of the Cascade Range in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia and as far east as Montana. Flowers have an orange scent, giving it its name. Peak blooming time is in June. Gardeners favor mock orange because of its showy, fragrant blossoms and ease of cultivation. It is named for Captain Meriwether Lewis who described it during the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Tiger Lily (lilium columbianum)
Also called Columbia lily, this gorgeous lily grows in conifer forests and clearings west of the Cascades. It sends up large blooms that rise to three or four feet, nodding above linear leaves that may be whorled or growing singly. Blossoms have maroon-speckled yellow-orange petals that curve back. Long, prominent stamens hang from the center. It blooms from June through August.
Cusick's Checkermallow (Sidalcea virgata)
Also known as rose checkermallow or wild hollyhock, this plant is native to wetlands of the Willamette Valley in Oregon. It is considered rare or endangered. It is a perennial with stocks of pink flowers growing three to four feet tall. It blooms in May and June, attracting butterflies. It is often grown in native plant gardens, but when planted away from wetland conditions, it requires plenty of summer watering.
These are some of the flowers to look for during a summer walk in Pacific Northwest woods and meadows.
Related Article:
Columbia River Gorge Wildflowers
Sources:
Lewis Clark’s Field Guide to Wild Flowers of Marsh and Waterway in the Pacific Northwest, by Lewis J. Clark, Gray’s Publishing Limited, B.C., 1974.
Wildflowers of the Columbia Gorge, by Russ Jolley, Oregon Historical Society Press, Portland, OR, 1988.
National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Pacific Northwest, by Peter Alden, Alfred A. Knopf, N.Y., 1998.
Burke Museum of Natural History and culture, Washington State Field Guides
Washington State University, Clark County Extension Service
Linda McDonnell - I have been a journalist for 20 years, currently freelancing. As an outdoor and nature lover, I particularly enjoy writing about outdoor ...
