Wenatchee Mountains

[David Sellars]

The cool wet weather in the Pacific Northwest this year has delayed snowmelt in the alpine areas.  There is so much snow in the North Cascades that the road to Artist's Point near Mount Baker will not be cleared this year. Last weekend we headed down to the Wenatcheee Mountains on the east side of the Cascades hoping to find snow-free alpine areas.  We were not disappointed.

The Claytonia megarhiza v nivalis was spectacular on the summit ridge of Iron Peak and there were even a few Douglasia nivalis still in flower. The Claytonia and Douglasia were dotted around the serpentine scree together with  Anenome drummondii , Castilleja elmeri and Ivesia tweedyi.  We were fortunate to meet Richard Ramsden on the trail who pointed out some of the other Wenatchee endemics such as Lomatium cuspidatum.

[David Sellars]

On Sunday July 24 we went up Tronsen Ridge. At the lower elevations the Lewisia tweedyi had finished flowering but Lewisia rediviva was emerging. There were lots of Penstemon particularly Penstemon pruinosus and some nice clumps of Clematis columbiana. Near the summit of the ridge there was a wonderful rock garden with different colour forms of Lewisia tweedyi in full flower which we had not expected so late in the year.  On top there were some lovely dwarf forms of  Ipomopsis aggregata and many species of Eriogonum.

[Tony Willis]

David super pictures,as you know we were there last year and it brings back great memories. It is a wonderful area

[Spiegel]

Wonderful pictures, David.  Did you find a range of color forms in the L. tweedyi?  One you photographed looked almost yellow.  That was one of the color forms exhibited at the plant show at the Nottingham Conference this year.

[Lori S.]

Wow, terrific collection of plants!  The scenery and soil colour look so different from what we see around here.   The claytonia and lewisias are just amazing.
The penstemon looks very unusual for P. procerus... the rounded leaf shape, prominent teeth and long basal petioles seem odd for that species.  Any chance it might be P. pruinosus?
Thanks for posting those shots - it's wonderful to get the opportunity to see that area!

[David Sellars]

Anne:

Most of the Lewisia tweedyi in the wild look yellow to me, some more creamy than others.  The ones with orange or peachy tones are much less common.  We have one very small disjunct population of Lewisia tweedyi in Manning Park, BC.  They are all yellow with no orange tones.

[David Sellars]

Lori:

I think you are right. It is Penstemon pruinosus.  I didn't look too closely at the penstemon and assumed it was procerus which is quite common in the Cascades.  The Washington Native Plant Society plant list for Tronsen Ridge confirms your observation:

http://www.wnps.org/plant_lists/counties/chelan/documents/TronsonRidge2fixed.pdf

The entire hike up Iron Peak is on serpentine rock and soil which gives a strange appearance to the vegetation. There are areas with no trees at quite a low elevation and Douglasia nivalis grows in those open areas as well as on the ridge.  The summit ridge of Iron Peak is all rusty brown rock and scree dotted with an amazing collection of plants unlike anywhere I have ever seen.

[David Sellars]

Here's the Penstemon pruinosus which shows the upper part of Tronsen Ridge in the background. Plus a couple more of the Claytonia megarhiza v nivalis from Iron Peak.

[RickR]

superb, David!
How much does a plant of Clematis columbiana spread there?

[David Sellars]

Rick:

Most of the Clematis columbiana on Tronsen Ridge are quite straggly as you would expect.  The clump in the photo was quite unusual and was about three feet across.  Clematis columbiana v tenuiloba forms beautiful small clumps but we have only seen that form in Utah and the Bighorns.

[Hoy]

Fantastic pictures of beautiful plants! What a place to hike

[Booker]

Superb images David ... many thanks for posting.  Another mountain range we MUST visit!

[Spiegel]

Lori:

The entire hike up Iron Peak is on serpentine rock and soil which gives a strange appearance to the vegetation. There are areas with no trees at quite a low elevation and Douglasia nivalis grows in those open areas as well as on the ridge.  The summit ridge of Iron Peak is all rusty brown rock and scree dotted with an amazing collection of plants unlike anywhere I have ever seen.

David, that might be a clue why Douglasia nivalis doesn't stay with me for more than a couple of years.  It must need something in the soil it's not getting.  It's such a lovely plant and blooms so early.

[David Sellars]

Anne:

Douglasia nivalis also grows on Tronsen Ridge (sandstone) and Chumstick Mountain which doesn't appear to be serpentine.  I suspect that it grows on Iron Peak because it can tolerate the serpentine and the serpentine eliminates most of the competition.

I too have tried Douglsis nivalis in the garden but lost it quite quickly. It grows OK in a clay pot in a plunge bed in the Alpine Shed.  I am currently trying it in a sand bed among tufa blocks. That may sound strange as it is obviously not a calcicole but it seems lots of plants like tufa so it is an experiment.

[David Sellars]

Talking of Chumstick Mountain we also drove up to the top of this wonderful natural rock garden located northeast of Leavenworth. The huge beds of Douglasia nivalis had finished flowering and it was a bit too early for seed but there were lots of other plants still in flower.  Two outstanding plants were Calochortus lyallii and Lilium columbianum.