Happy Flower Friday

Slideshow made with Smilebox

I wanted to show off some of the great early spring flowers that are popping up southern Oregon.

The single white flower that appears twice- that's a Fawn Lily.

The other white flowers with the purple flowers in the background are white Shooting Stars Dodecatheon pulchellum (photo by TreeGeek). The purple ones are....wait for it...purple Shooting Stars! Betcha didn't know that.

The yellow flowers are Oregon Grape. I had no idea that Oregon Grape was so odiferous, in a pleasant way. I kept catching whiff of it while I was taking photos. There were an astounding number of bees and wasps crawling all over this plant. I took a few snaps and moved on. I didn't want to disturb the feeding frenzy.

The purple and pink fuzzy flowers are Pulsatilla (aka Pasque flower). The wiki article says these are toxic but I have herbalist friends that use a tincture of this plant for anxiety. You don't need much for it to work but no one should mess around with toxic plants unless they are under the supervision of a trained herbalist.

The two fields of flowers are Indian Warrior Pedicularis densiflora (both photos by TreeGeek). Someone was telling me that Pedicularis plants are in high demand. Apparently they help with spasm-type pain. I'm not sure exactly how they are prepared for medicinal use. They may look familiar to those of you who know Indian Paintbrush - they are very similar in appearance.

What's blooming in your area? Happy Spring!