visit to the US

Diane Whitehead voltaire@islandnet.com
Mon, 20 Oct 2003 16:45:17 PDT
Mark,

Wild is better than gardens.

The redwoods in northern California.  No more need be said.

The Siskiyou Mountains along the border between Oregon and 
California.  Lots of endemics.  Every road has different flowers.  If 
you see something in flower, photograph it instead of waiting for a 
better one, because you might not see another one. You could spend 
the whole season there. I saw Trillium rivale in flower March 1, and 
erythroniums follow soon after. April and May are fantastic - more 
trilliums, erythroniums, iris, alliums, calochortus, with the air 
perfumed by hillsides of Rhododendron occidentale in bloom. The 
summer brings lilies and alpine plants at higher elevations. There is 
a wildflower show in a community hall in Glide, Oregon, on the last 
full weekend of April every year. http://www.wmni.net/magyan/GWS.htm 
Either go there first to see what the plants should look like, or go 
there after to identify everything you've photographed.  There is one 
sample of everything from lichen to trees, and endangered plants are 
represented by pictures.  Everything is labelled. Photographers are 
allowed in early.

There is a wildflower hotline for early spring desert flowers, but 
I'll leave someone else to write about that because I haven't been 
yet.

-- 
Diane Whitehead  Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
maritime zone 8
cool mediterranean climate (dry summer, rainy winter - 68 cm annually)
sandy soil


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