Nature Notes

Thanks to Nearby Nature’s Park Host for sharing Alton Baker Park and our Learnscape virtually with everyone who can’t be there personally this spring.

May 24: Western columbine in the park — such a celebration of color!
May 21: The Alton Baker Park Host’s House looks wonderfully green and flowery and alive these days!
May 19: Wild cucumber reminds us that we’re all connected.

 

May 13: Spring perfectly illustrates this Kalapuya Talking Stone.
May 9: Cow parsnip glows with the joy of a sunny day.

 

April 30: Time to go out and see the Delphinium (larkspur) in Alton Baker Park right now. Truly spectacular!
April 26: Checker Lily in Alton Baker Park. You might miss this beauty if you’re not looking carefully!

 

April 22: Celebrating Earth Day today with a reminder that in order to thrive, we all need the sun AND the rain.
April 21: Camas bud burst from above — a lovely new perspective on this elegant spring wildflower. Its bulbs, roasted and processed into camas cakes, were an important source of food for the native Kalapuya people.

 

April 17: The delicate male flowers of meadow rue, like tiny chandeliers, bloom in the Wildflower Hollow. Meadow rue is dioecious, meaning the male and female flowers are on separate plants.
April 15: Delphinium, or Wizard Hats as nick-named by one Nearby Nature volunteer, are popping up all along the bike path and in the Wildflower Hollow.
April 13: “Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.” – Why I Wake Early, Mary Oliver
April 10: Look closely. Natural treasures are everywhere.

 

April 6: Our year around friend the Great Blue Heron patiently watching for lunch.

 

April 3: New buds in Nearby Nature’s Learnscape

 

March 31: The Kalapuya Talking Stones remain steadfast in rain and sun, winter and spring.
March 30: Fruit trees in Alton Baker Park are blooming! “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” — Anais Nin
March 26: Blue sky day next to the Willamette River.
March 25: Trillium blooming in the park — a true sign that spring has sprung.
March 23: Calendula blooms in the Learnscape. Sunshine on a cloudy day.

 

March 21: Hummingbirds regularly visit the red-flowering currant growing in the Learnscape. We see them as well as hear them whirring through the garden.
March 20: Smilacina (False Solomon’s Seal) is getting ready to bloom the Wildflower Hollow. Soon the area will be awash in the glorious fragrance of this wildflower.