The 2026 wildflower pageant continues to build with so many plants in bloom. I hope you all can get out to enjoy our native wildflowers. This yellow faced bumble bee was out foraging on the red flowering current (Ribes sanguineum) blooms. These shrubs are in full bloom now. Red flowering current is my favorite native plant. These bright red blooms are the harbinger of spring that I anxiously look for each March, confirming once again that winter is behind us, that spring

February was warmer than usual, so it seems that the spring blooms are a few weeks early this year.  Walking through the rocky balds, the early wildflowers are beginning to bloom and the camas are up and showing lots of promise for April. The blue eyed mary is now in full bloom in the lichen covered rocks and moss. Blue eyed Mary growing in the rocky balds Blue eyed mary (Collinsia parviflora) is a low growing annual, with dark blue green green leaves and small deep blue flo

Camas is an iconic wildflower of the San Juan Islands. We see the flower on websites about the islands and we learn about its importance to the Salish people as a food source. As such, I wanted camas to be a cornerstone of my meadow and spent a lot of time contemplating the plant. We needed to get to know one another. First off, I wanted to learn its formal name and family line. The Latin genus name is Camassia and it is in the asparagus family, formally referred to "Asp