Tag Archives: Wildflowers

March 19, 2024 · 7:03 am

First Day Of Spring 2024

It’s the #firstdayofspring! It’s also #TriviaTuesday !

While we think of spring (March through May) as the beginning for wildflowers to bloom, this season may occur during a different set of months, depending upon the location and elevation. Take Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state, for instance. Some of the first spring wildflowers you’ll see, such as avalanche and glacier lilies, may not begin to pop up until early June.

Image 1: Bright, yellow, glacier lilies – a subalpine wildflower – tend to appear before avalanche lilies, and will push up through the snow in order to bloom.

Image 2: The delicate, white, subalpine avalanche lilies (closely related to glacier lilies, btw), may take many years before beginning to bloom. When avalanche lilies finally bloom, they do so abundantly, and you’ll see them along the edges of melting snow.

Remember to take the time to stop and admire the flowers, where ever you may be.

BTW, these images were captured with a 100-400mm telephoto lens. I find it easier to use a telephoto lens for wildflower shots than I do a macro lens.

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Filed under flowers, Photography, Seasons, Spring

Tagged as avalanche lilies, glacier lilies, Mount Rainier National Park, Mt. Rainier National Park, National Park, photography, spring, travel, where the trails take you, Wildflowers

January 3, 2024 · 7:49 am

Time To Start Planning For That Spring Trip

Now that it’s the new year, what are your vacation / holiday plans? Thinking about a trip to a unit of the National Park System? Maybe a trip in the spring to view some wildflowers – someplace like Big Bend National Park in Texas to witness the bright cactus blooms? Given how quickly lodging and campsites fill up at/near the parks, it’s never too early to start planning your trip.

Images 1 & 2: prickly pear cactus blooms

Image 3: strawberry pitaya cactus bloom

Image 4: cholla cactus blooms

Image 5: claret cup cactus bloom

All images captured at Big Bend National Park with a telephoto lens! You don’t need a macro lens to get great wildflower close-ups. Just use a telephoto lens on your SLR or the telephoto setting on your smartphone or point-and-shoot.

If you are interested in visiting this national park in Texas, click on the links below of articles I wrote for the National Parks Traveler.

https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2015/10/photography-national-parks-your-armchair-guide-big-bend-national-park-part-1

https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2015/11/photography-national-parks-your-armchair-guide-big-bend-national-park-part-2

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Filed under Big Bend National Park, National Parks, National Parks Traveler, Photography, Travel, Travel and Photography

Tagged as Big Bend National Park, cactus, cactus blooms, National Park, National Parks Traveler, photography, telephoto, Texas, travel, where the trails take you, Wildflowers

April 19, 2021 · 4:54 am

April Showers Bring May Flowers Part II

Here’s another spring (and summer and maybe even fall) flower you’ll see in quite a few national parks: Indian paintbrush (aka scarlet paintbrush, magenta paintbrush, pumice paintbrush, etc. etc.). Here’s an interesting little fact that you would have picked up if you’d read my National Parks Quiz and Trivia Piece #28: the paintbrush flower is quite opportunistic, digging its roots into neighboring plants to steal their nutrients. This plant, therefore, is hemiparasitic – it has chlorophyll, so it doesn’t get all of its nutrition from other plants.

The next time you are out in a park, or even when you look alongside the road and you spy a paintbrush flower, look around to see if there are other flowers nearby. You’ll usually (not always, but usually) see Indian, scarlet, magenta, or pumice paintbrush quite close to other flowers and plants.

Oh, and if you are interested in looking at that wildflower quiz, then click on the image above.

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Filed under flowers, National Parks, Photography

Tagged as flower, Flowers, Indian paintbrush, National Park, national parks, paintbrush, photography, scarlet paintbrush, spring, trivia, wildflower, Wildflowers

April 18, 2021 · 6:48 am

Tiger Lily

“April showers bring May flowers.” While that might be the case in the lower elevations of the park, that’s not really so in the upper elevations. If you visit during mid-late July, however, you’ll see an explosion of wildflowers in the park, including the beautiful tiger lily.

As I was driving up the road from the Nisqually Entrance toward Paradise, one July a few years ago, I saw this patch of bright orange, strangely-shaped blooms. There was no place for me to stop along the narrow road, so I drove on, trying to figure out where I could park and then hike down to this patch. Luckily for me, a day later, while driving Stevens Canyon Road, I saw these flowers again, right next to a convenient pullout.The tiger lily plant, also known as the Columbia lily, can grow to a little under 4 feet in height, with a few or numerous orange blooms dotted with brownish spots. They are apparently lightly-scented, which I did not know, otherwise I would have bent down to sniff (and probably breathed in pollen and then gotten an allergy, so probably just as well I didn’t know this). Tiger lilys are just one of the many wildflowers you’ll see during a July visit to this national park.

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Filed under flowers, Mount Rainier National Park, National Parks, Photography

Tagged as 100-400, 1DX, Canon, Columbia lily, flower, July, Lilium columbianum, Mount Rainier National Park, National Park, photography, summer, telephoto closeup, tiger lily, Washington State, wildflower, Wildflowers

April 9, 2021 · 3:31 am

National Parks Quiz and Trivia #28 – The Spring Wildflower Edition

*Blooming claret cup cactus in Big Bend National Park (Texas)*

It’s time to test your knowledge with my latest quiz and trivia piece published in today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler. It’s all about spring wildflowers in the national park system. See just how much you know and maybe learn something new.

To take the quiz, click on the image above. After you’ve finished with the quiz, take a look at the other articles in today’s edition of the Traveler, while you are at it.

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Filed under flowers, National Parks, National Parks Quiz, National Parks Traveler, Photography

Tagged as Flowers, National Park, national parks, National Parks Traveler, photography, quiz, quiz and trivia, spring, where the trails take you, Wildflowers

July 4, 2020 · 6:26 am

Flower Fireworks

For this July 4th, how about a bit of flower fireworks, courtesy of these blooming spider lilies. They make me think of bursting white and yellow fireworks. A bit of a throwback to 2015, courtesy of Brazos Bend State Park in Texas.

Where ever you are folks, regardless of the day (which feels to me a bit marred thanks to tRump’s little Covid party last night at Mount Rushmore National Memorial), please stay safe out there. The coronavirus is here to stay until there is a viable vaccine available to everybody, so please practice social distancing and wear a mask. It aint a hoax.

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Filed under 1DX, Brazos Bend State Park, Canon, flowers, holiday, July 4th, Photography

Tagged as 150-600mm, 1DX, 4th of July, Brazos Bend State Park, Canon, fireworks, flower, Flowers, holiday, natural fireworks, photography, spider lilies, Tamron, where the trails take you, white, Wildflowers

December 12, 2017 · 8:14 am

The Armchair Photography Guide to Mount Rainier National Park – Part 4

My final installment (Part 4) of the Armchair Photography Guide to Mount Rainier National Park has been published in today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler. Click on the photo to be taken to the site if you want to check out the article (and read Parts 1 – 3, if you haven’t already done so). 😉

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Filed under 1DX, 5DSR, Armchair Photography Guide, Canon, Equipment, HD PENTAX-DA645 28-45mm f/4.5 ED AW SR Lens, Mt. Rainier National Park, Mt. Rainier National Park, National Parks, National Parks Traveler, nature, Pentax 645z, Pentax Lens, Photography, Travel

Tagged as 5DSR, Canon, Christine Falls, Longmire, marmot, medium format, Mount Rainier, Mount Rainier National Park, Mt Rainier, Mt. Rainer National Park, Narada Falls, National Park, National Park Inn, National Parks Traveler, Nisqually River, Pentax 645z, stellers jay, waterfall, Wildflowers, wildlife

August 12, 2017 · 6:29 am

Focus on More than Just the Mountain

The National Parks Traveler published my latest photography article. This month’s article deals with focusing on more than just “The Mountain” in Mount Rainier National Park. Click on the photo above to be taken to the article.

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Filed under Mt. Rainier National Park, National Parks Traveler, Photography

Tagged as 645z, Canon, landscape, landscape photography, landscapes, medium format, Mount Rainier, Mt Rainier, National Park, National Parks Traveler, night photography, Pentax, photography, Rebecca Latson Photography, rebeccalatsonphotography, silky water, Tatoosh mountains, volcano, waterfalls, wildflower, Wildflowers

May 25, 2014 · 10:49 am

Blooming Cacti

Strawberry Pitaya Cactus Bloom

One of the reasons I traveled so far to visit Big Bend National Park, Texas, in late April, was to view and photograph the blooming cacti. I don’t know what it is about being so excited to see these lovely flowers as opposed to any other spring wildflower. Perhaps it’s because I am always so amazed to see something so prickly and painful produce something so colorful and delicate.

Englemanns (?) Prickly Pear Cactus Bloom

Eagle Claw Cactus Blooms

Pollen-Laden Bee and Prickly Pear Cactus Bloom

Claret Cup Bloom

Strawberry Pitaya Cactus

Tree Cholla Bloom

Bee and Cholla Bloom

Two Bees in a Prickly Pear Bloom

Prickly Pear Bloom

Bird’s Nest in a Blooming Cholla

I used several different methods for achieving these blooming cacti shots – all without the use of a dedicated macro lens:

Canon 70-200 or Canon 100-400 telephoto lens zoomed in at their longest focal length
Canon 40mm “pancake” lens with a close-up filter attached
Pentax WG-3 point & shoot using its macro mode
Canon 24-70mm at the 70mm focal length with the image ultimately cropped

Blooming Prickly Pear and Chihuahuan Desert Scenery in Big Bend National Park

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Filed under Big Bend, National Parks, Photography, Seasons, Spring, Texas, Travel, Travel and Photography

Tagged as Big Bend, blooming, cacti, cactus, Flowers, National Park, photography, Rebecca Latson Photography, spring, Texas, TX, Wildflowers

April 6, 2014 · 4:44 pm

Spring Means Bluebonnets

Spring means bluebonnets in Texas hill country.

It’s been maybe 4-5 years since I traveled into the hill country in search of those quintessential blue harbingers of a Texas spring.

One day, last week, a co-worker emailed to tell me she had driven to Chappell Hill and then on to Washington-on-the-Brazos to view the wildflowers. She said the color display was amazing.