As I walk, I often think about this resilient and wide-spread native plant, that is found throughout the western U.S at a wide variety of elevations. You can still find fresh flower blooms on plants growing at 3000″ in mid-June in the Wenatchee Mountain while the mid-June Wenatchee Foothills plants have already shed their ripe seeds. Continue Reading →
For just a short week in early April, the ravines in the Wenatchee Foothills are bursting with serviceberry blossoms. Continue Reading →
Mountain Lady’s-slipper (Cypripedium montanum) is currently in full bloom in an aspen grove near you! Continue Reading →
Yellow bells are one of the early blooming wildflowers in the shrub-steppe. Continue Reading →
I am thankful for a particular stately sagebrush that I walked by on January snow walks in the Wenatchee Foothills. Each time I arrived, I wondered what lesson this sentinel Continue Reading →
Register now for Don Schaechtel’s ZOOM talk for the Wenatchee Valley Chapter, Washington Native Plant Society on Feb. 2, 2022, at 7pm. The society’s mission is to promote the appreciation and conservation of Washington’s native plants and their habitats through study, education, and advocacy. The Wenatchee Valley Chapter invites the public to attend as a kick-off for Black History Month. Continue Reading →
Most of us come home from an outing in the Wenatchee Watershed with new questions that begin with “Why?” Recently, my “Why” was preceded by “Wow,” in response to seeing the golden beauty of an aspen grove, encountered amidst the rich greens of conifer-clad mountainsides, on a bluebird mid-October day. I wondered, why are some aspen leaves tinged with a pinky-red, yet most are a vivid gold? Continue Reading →
We locals like to call it Wenatchee Rock Rose, and others call it Tweedy’s lewisia. In all the world, it only grows in our neck-in-the-woods, something botanists call an endemic species. It turns out, our Wenatchee Mountains have the highest concentration of endemic plants in all of Washington. Continue Reading →
I wish we had a more endearing term that “lithosols” to describe Columbia Basin habitats of thin, rocky soils!. Here, the wind deposits has deposited bits of soil in-between a pavement of lichen-encrusted basalt rocks. Each spring, a diverse display of native wildflowers create splashes of color worth exploring. Continue Reading →
In 2020-topsy-turvy style, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised to find ice encrusted still-green leaves, on what I’d thought would be a fall leaf-peeping walk. We were hiking near Easton, just east of Snoqualmie Pass, on a snow-covered trail when sunlight suddenly lit up every ice coated surface. Continue Reading →