Review: Billingham Hadley Digital camera bag
Sarah & I spent Memorial Day with her cousin and his lovely family near the little town of Willits in Northern California, and I was surprised to see a great many wildflowers still in bloom as we walked around their property.
Linanthus sp.
There was Linanthus galore, its delicate yellow filament a dead giveaway.
Western Heart’s-ease
A few patches of Western Heart’s-ease Violets bloomed in shadier areas. These are easy to ID if you just look at the backside of the top two petals – they’re purple in this species.
Yellow Globe Lily
The west-facing hillsides were covered with more Yellow Globe Lilies than I’ve ever seen. They mostly stymied my attempts to photograph them, as Globe Lilies usually do.
Redribbons
Redribbons
A wild flash of pink caught my eye – something new! I initially thought it was Elegant Clarkia, but a lookup in my books back at home shows it to (probably) be Redribbons (same genus, but different petal shape).
Ithuriel’s Spear
Clusters of purple Ithuriel’s Spear were plentiful, although we didn’t see a single one of its close cousin, Elegant Brodiaea, which is usually present along with it.
California Indian Pink
Another bright flash, inconveniently-located high on a hillside – Indian Pink, an unusual flower that I’ve seen only once before.
Dudleya sp.
A rocky outcrop was almost completely covered in Dudleya, most of it blooming.
Kellogg’s Monkeyflower
The un-subtle flaming magenta of Kellogg’s Monkeyflower also caught my eye – another flower I’ve only rarely seen.
Unknown flower – what is this?
Down by the river, several clumps of the white flower above were blooming, but I’m afraid I have no name for it. It almost looks like a checkerbloom.
Little green frog
As we admired the huge numbers of tadpoles in the river, Sarah spotted their source nearby – cute little fellow, huh?
Little brown frog
Blending in so well as to nearly be stepped on, this little frog cooperated pretty well for close-ups, unlike its green neighbor.
For a lazy 30-minute stroll on the cousin’s property, I was pretty impressed with the variety of flowers still in bloom in late May!
Wildflowers seen:
– Baby Blue Eyes
– Broadleaf Filaree
– California Indian Pink
– California Poppy
– Chinese Houses
– Crimson Columbine
– Dove’s-foot Geranium
– Dudleya sp.
– Farewell-to-spring
– Indian Paintbrush
– Indian Warrior
– Ithuriel’s Spear
– Kellogg’s Monkeyflower
– Linanthus sp.
* Redribbons
– Royal Penstemon
– Scarlet Gilia
– Scarlet Pimpernel
– Yellow Globe Lily
– Western Heart’s-ease
* = new-to-me flower
Related posts
The white flower looks like a meadowfoam – Limnanthes sp. You see them alot in wetlands and vernal pools.
Where in Willits was this (general area, road…)? I grew up there and now live in Windsor (just north of Santa Rosa). Never noticed all of these flowers when I was a kid.
Your photos are great. What camera/lens do you use? I have a Nikon d40 and use the nikon closeup diopters (3t & 4t) on a 55-200. Would like to have the 200mm macro, but get decent shots with the cheap setup!
Nice site.
Regards,
Steve
Thanks, Steve – someone on Flickr also said it was a meadowfoam.
This was near the intersection of Hearst Willits & Tomke roads, a little ways east of Willits itself.
In this post, everything was taken with a Canon G10 – since we were just up visiting family, I didn’t want to lug my SLR & macro lens around, although had I known the flowers were going to be so good, I might have! I usually use a Canon 30D & Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro for close-ups, but the G10 does a fine job, if you can get it to focus – it’s a little fiddly in mediocre light, but at least it has MF, unlike most digicams.
You couldn’t ask for a better flower shot, it is almost like a perfect mirror image of perfection!
Thanks, Clint!