Dodecatheon sp., Shooting Stars, are among our loveliest wildflowers, and they have been teasing me for the last couple of years! I know they grow in this area:they used to grow on the family farm until their habitat became too overgrown with willows (salix sp) and birch (betula pumila) among other things. I've also seen those tantalising flashes of hot pink in the ditches as we drive to and from work, but over the last couple of seasons, I haven't had a chance to see and photograph them up close (apart from a few in the mountains, last year).
I finally got a bike in riding order last summer and started exploring the neighbouring backroads, but it was in august-too late for this plant! So, this year when I started seeing those pink patches again, I knew I had to get out on the bike and find some plants near home.. The usual habitat for the species around here is in grassy, fairly open wetlands, a common land type around here, so I was hopeful, but then it takes time to cover ground on bicycle!
My first trip out was not successful at finding this species, but still, some nice views, some other nice plants, and a beautiful day to be out!
Second time lucky, I headed for another area, one road/mile over and then a couple of miles down (the roads are on a grid, one mile apart east/west, and two miles apart north/south). I had a feeling I should find Dodecatheon along that road-I'm not sure if it was a vague memory of seeing it in childhood, or something else, but I was right, and more right than I had imagined! The plant was there, and in huge numbers--in one place a whole field (presumably a hay field, mowed sometime in summer, but not cultivated; also likely grazed at times), around 1/4 mile long and at least a couple hundred metres deep!
I continued to find the plant after that, along the ditches, and into semi wooded pastures.
Around a week later, I was thrilled to find another location just a little farther from home, and it's a great site with some other species I had not seen locally..that album soon to come!
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