Things to See and Do

Wildflower/Waterfall Hotline

"The Bloom Blog"

Hello, and welcome to the Plumas County "Bloom Blog" and waterfalls viewing page. Our goal is to keep wildflower/waterfall enthusiasts informed about where specific wildflowers and waterfalls can be found from February through July.  Please send us up to date information  with locations and/or  photos.  Let us know if our plant identification is incorrect.  

See previous Bloom Blog entries for Spring 2010

July 15, 2010

Signing off for the season!

Wow! What a wonderful, color filled season for wildflowers. As the heat continues, the wildflowers will be dwindling, so we will be looking forward to next year. Many thanks go out to Joe Willis, Jeff Titcomb and everyone else for their continuous submissions!

July 8, 2010

Joe Willis writes to us:

These six have been blooming for a week or more in most places around Quincy and will continue to bloom throughout July.  Also, the Leopard Lilies are starting to bloom and should peak in most places over the next several weeks.  I'm seeing them here and there along Spanish Creek and tributaries such as Tollgate Creek. 

The Lady Slippers (orchid) we posted a couple of weeks ago have mostly wilted but are still recognizable by hardy explorers.  The ones we saw are around 100 yards past the bridge over Spanish Creek on the Oakland Camp Road around 1/2 mile before the camp.  On the right hand side around 30 feet off the road.  For me, they were the discovery of the season!

Pennyroyal (left)      Mule's Ear (below)

Indian Hemp (left)

                                   Narrow Leaf Milkweed (right)

Scarlet Gilia (left)

                                                               Chicory (right)

July 7, 2010

Joe Willis writes to us:

Saw my first Leopard Lily of the season on Tollgate Creek near where it enters Spanish Creek.  Beautiful, and there were several. 

Mullein (right) is a common roadside weed, but the flowers are quite nice when viewed close up.  This one was by the railroad track where it crosses Tollgate Creek. 

This relative of St. John's Wort called Klamath Weed is all over the county on roadsides and tracksides. 

Two kinds of thistle (right) and (left) are blooming in our area.  Bright red flowers and they attract lots of beautiful insects.

July 6, 2010

Joe Willis writes to us:

Another walk in the vicinity of Oakland Camp on Friday revealed that five different milkweeds are blooming.  I've included here a photo of Purple Milkweed (right), AKA Heartleaf Milkweed, which won't be blooming much longer.  The Showy Milkweed is just now coming into bloom and I'll include some shots of it in my next message. 

The Blue Elderberry (left) is blooming all around Quincy and this beautiful specimen is next to the corral at the entrance to Oakland Camp. 

Yellow Salsify is still blooming in shady areas, but has already gone to seed in the drier, sunny places. 

Took a drive up Gold Lake Road just before Saturday's fireworks in Graeagle and saw lots of Spreading Phlox and Red Penstemon (right). 

Chicory and Cinquefoil are at the roadsides and track sides throughout the county from 2,000' to over 5,000'.  Check my blog, blackoaknaturalist, for more milkweed photos, many with beautiful bugs visiting.

June 28, 2010

Joe Willis writes to us:

I led a nice morning hike along Spanish Creek opposite Oakland Camp and saw lots of clusters of daisies which are also abundant all around American Valley, but this one was graced by a Goldenrod Crab Spider. They can slowly change color and, more often than not, you'll find white ones against a yellow background and yellow ones against white.  There's a good reason for this. 

The Giant Sawtooth fungus, around 5" in diameter, was right in the middle of camp and surprisingly had not yet been stepped on.  The Ninebark (right), a shrub in the rose family, is abundant on both sides of the creek. 

Sierra Onion (left)  has dried up and withered in many places by now, but there are still some clusters of fresh pink ones near the creek.  The Madia were abundant along handler Road on the Greenhorn Creek side. We've found over 100 species of wildflowers this past month along Spanish Creek between Quincy and Keddie.

June 26, 2010

Joe Willis Writes to us:

Here are three seldom seen but common flowers of the shady areas of our forests.  Last week we discovered the Mountain Lady Slipper in a dark area of dense shrubs beneath some old growth pines and firs. 

In the same general area we found Spotted Coral Root (right), which like the lady slipper is an orchid, Western Dog Violet (left), and Wild Ginger (below). The latter flowers are especially hard to spot as they are always totally covered by their large, heart-shaped leaves. 

A good place to see lots of these is in Boyle Ravine at the end of Coburn Street.  You have to push aside individual ginger leaves in hopes of finding the flowers beneath.  Very beautiful.  They are in the same family as Dutchman's Pipevine, a beauty of the lower foothills and places like Bidwell Park.

June 26, 2010

Jeff Titcomb writes to us:

The Red Bells are blooming along the roadways and hillsides in the Indian Valley and around Greenville, CA.

If you travel up past Round Valley Lake and head towards Long Valley the meadows are full of flowers and the hillsides are still covered in Dogwood Blossoms.

June 25, 2010

Joe Willis writes to us:

Here are seven from our trip up Mt. Hough last Monday.  At the half way point, between 4-corners and Reinhart Meadow, we saw the Blue Ceanothus (right) which is a close relative of Deer Brush, Buck Brush and Mahala Mat (formerly known as Squaw Carpet), and Snow Plant along with one beautiful specimen of Scarlet Gilia. 

Further up, between the China Grade intersection and the lookout, there were literally acres and acres of Arrowleaf Balsamroot (left).  Among these bright yellow blooms were thousands of leaves of Mule's Ears that were not yet blooming.  They have similar-looking flowers but quite different leaves. 

If you get out and walk around, which I highly recommend, you'll see the Beaver-tail Grass, which is a type of Mariposa Lily which has been given many other names, Wild Onions, Leichtlin's Mariposa Lily (right), Blue Larkspur and Mountain Violets which are yellow.  We also saw Pussy Paws, Showy Phlox, Choke Cherry, various Buckwheats, Spreading Phlox, and many beautiful-colored lichens on rockas and trees.  I won't mention the fresh bear scat.:) 

June 22, 2010

Joe Willis writes to us:

All of these were seen early Friday morning between the bridge, 1/2 mile from Oakland Camp and the camp itself except the cow parsnip (below) was seen 100 yards south of the One-Way bridge on Chandler Road near the road to Oakland Camp. 

On our walk from camp to the first bridge we saw around 75 species in one hour.  Very good year for wildflowers!  The Lady Slippers (left)  were a very special find - the first time I've seen them in Plumas County. 

Most of the species we saw can seen in many places around the county between 3,000 and 4,000 feet elevation.  Monday we'll visit the top of Mt. Hough and will undoubtedly see many new kinds.

                                          Yarrow (right)

Wild Hollyhock (left)

June 18, 2010

Joe Willis writes to us:

There's quite a variety of flowers blooming along Spanish Creek in the vicinity of Oakland Feather River Camp.  In most sunny areas the Indian Rhubarb (left) has already gone to seed and the large, umbrella-like leaves are what we notice.  However, in some of the shady, north-facing stretches they are still in full flower. 

Along the Cascades Trail, about a mile downstream from the popular swimming hole before the camp there's a great patch of White Brodiaea, pictured here, and Death Camas, Meadow Foam and Diamond Clarkia (right).

In many areas of drier, open forest above the creek are Wild Onion. In the shadier areas near the creek are lots of Crimson Columbine (left), and the patient observer is rewarded by views of hummingbirds pollinating them.

Early morning wildflower walks in this area will be rewarded by an incredible variety of bird song - Western Tanagers, Black-headed Grosbeaks, Robins, and Towhees leading the chorus.

June 14, 2010

Joe Willis Writes to us:

Good places to look for wildflowers now, besides the paved highways, are Forest Service Roads near creeks like Big Thompson Creek off the La Porte Road, Squirrel Creek by the road up to Argentine peak from Williams Loop, the various roads to and around Snake Lake, and Old Highway near Keddie, including the Keddie Cascades Trail.  Happy Flowering.

Field Clover and Milk Weed

            Wild Pea

Poppy

                               Fleabane

Deer Brush

June 9, 2010

Joe Willis writes to us:

Took a hike up Tollgate Creek from Oakland Camp Sunday, then downstream from the camp along Spanish Creek.  In two hours, saw over 50 species!  Here are a few. The red beetle is on a flower called Gilia (left).  It's blooming along the roadsides out of Quincy in both directions, especially north of the Greenville Y. 

Likewise the Hyacinth (right).  It's a lily, formerly known as Brodiaea. 

The Wild Rose (left) is also blooming up in Boyle Ravine and many other places at this elevation. 

June 5, 2010

This past week, the prettiest flowers I saw, other than in people's yards, were mostly non-native, roadside plants, AKA weeds.  Up at Almanor, not much was blooming yet, but due to the frequent spring storms, I think later June and on through July should be great for flowers.  The only one of these I saw at Almanor was the Madia (Pictured Left) growing along the East Shore, about a mile south of the Hamilton Branch turnoff. 

The Snapdragon (pictured right),  the domesticated relative of Monkeyflower, is thriving in the garden in front of Morning Thunder in Quincy, along with Marigolds , Pinks, and other beauties.  They Day Lilies there are about ready to bloom. 

Choke Cherry (left) as well as its cousin, Bitter Cherry are blooming all over, including in my yard.  This one was along Highway 89 north of the Y. 

Bachelor's Button (right) often mistaken for Chicory, is a close relative of Star Thistle, but doesn't have thistles.  Also, it comes in many shades of blue, purple or white, or even mottled.  This one was growing out of the sidewalk near Morning Thunder. 

The rest, including my favorite, the Salsify (left) were growing in the field between the Quincy Animal Shelter and Mr. B's Automotive.  I hope they don't mow that field.  It's a great place for wildflowers.  My favorite milkweed spot, near the fairgrounds, is getting ready to pop.  The Showy Milkweed attracts the beautiful Red Milkweed Beetle and the Monarch Butterfly once the flowers bloom, but now they are already attracting Ladybugs and other Beetles whose names I don't know.  Some of these beetles are so colorful that when people see my close-up photographs they assume they are exotics from the Amazon or Africa and are thrilled to know they can be seen around Quincy.

June 2, 2010

Richard McCutcheon sent us some pictures of Lupine that are blooming in Moonlight Canyon. Now that the sun is out and shining, the flowers are really starting to pop up all over!!

June 1, 2010

Joe Willis took a drive around Quincy Junction Rd. and Oakland Camp on Sunday and sent us some really gorgeous photos.

Daisy with Checkered Clerid

                                Poppies with Bumble Bee

Sandhill Cranes