(You can click on any photo to make it larger.)
Wildflower Morning is sponsoring a winter wildflower blog-a-thon and this week we were challenged to find a wildflower that blooms in winter. I thought this was a pretty daunting task considering it has been snowing off and on for a few weeks here in our area of northern California.
But I was so surprised on Monday when my husband and I were driving down the mountain and I actually saw some areas with wildflowers blooming right along the road. I had to go back with my camera and take some photos for you all to see. It actually started hailing on me while I was shooting these photos and my husband thought I was a little crazy for sticking it out.
I think I was a little wildflower starved because I took a lot of photos. I want to thank Elizabeth Joy for sponsoring this event. If I hadn’t had the challenge on my mind, I might have missed noticing these beautiful wildflowers. I had my eyes open and alert the last few days searching for something to photograph. I was rewarded for my diligence. Scroll down after the wildflower photos, you will see the added gift I was given while I was photographing the flowers.
I have yet to identify the flowers so I will come back and edit if I come up with something. I tried for about an hour with my field guide and the internet and didn’t come up with a name. I am sure someone knows what they are…..pretty much the same, just different colors.
oh gosh those wildflowers are just divine.
I really didn’t expect anyone except those in the Southern Hemisphere would have blooming wildflowers to post. I’m so excited! Both you and Mountian Heather have blooming flowers.
I’m not sure exactly what you have there, but they really remind me of the flowers that grow in plants in my veggie garden from the cabbage family. Maybe that will help your search. Let us know if you figure it out.
Those are all so sweet! I love seeing these pretty flowers on such a dreary day…
Amazing that you found those flowers and the hawk is fun to watch soar. I am still looking for wild flowers…
Jenn
I love your photographs. How wonderful that you found flowers blooming in January!
I could be wrong, but the yellow flower looks like the evening primrose that grows here wild in summer. The lavender flowers remind me a lot of the evening-scented stock that I’ve purchased in seed packets before. I’ll be back to see if anyone can positively identify these beauties! 🙂
How lucky you are to have January blossoms! Beautiful!
I knew I’d seen these before when we lived in San Diego, so I just spent an hour searching and I believe those are wild radish (Raphanus Sativus) http://www.sdnhm.org/research/botany/sdweeds.html
Shelly (from AO Yahoo group)
A flip video camera!
Oh Boy! My birthday is coming up!
I see it comes with a waterproof case…(for the beach!)
Thanks for the tip!
I’ll be posting some wildflowers myself.
We are on the Wildflower chapter in our Nature Studies.
I love these blooms. But I love any flower that has leaves where the veining is prominent. The veining in these reminds me of that of some hardy geraniums.