Summer Wildflowers of the Sierra: A Fond Farewell

It's September, and the season of glorious meadows of wildflowers has passed in the Sierra Nevada.  I was up around 3,500 feet a couple days ago, near Twain Harte, and most of the summer's wildflowers were far past their prime.  (However, the mountain dogwoods were just beginning to change color for the fall!)

This post will be a quick review of some of my favorite summer wildflowers.  These photos were all taken on the western slopes of the Sierra, mostly in the Stanislaus National Forest near the Clark Fork of the Stanislaus River.

Leichtlin's Mariposa Lily (Calochortus leichtlinii)


 
Golden Brodiaea (Triteleia ixioides)


Penstemon (Penstemon sp.)


Penstemon (Penstemon sp.)


Western Columbine (Aquilegia formosa)


Mountain Pride (Penstemon newberryi)


Erigeron sp. (or Aster sp. - I'm sorry to say I didn't look closely enough to get an ID at the time!)


Paintbrush (Castilleja sp.)


Cinquefoil (Cinquefoil sp.)




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