This spring, there was a lot of media noise about the massive wildflower bloom in California. On a recent road trip to the Sierra Nevadas, I saw that bloom is still strong. Driving down through Oregon, it became clear that we’re having an impressive wildflower year, too (since having them more frequently than California is less newsworthy).
Since I happened to be with my mother during the trip, we spent a lot of time inspecting roadside blossoms. It reminded me of my childhood and of teaching my kids about the flowers we stumbled upon.
Growing up in Oregon in a family with four generations of experience with native plants, I ended up with lots of little bits of knowledge that I could pass on. I learned most of it from my mother, who learned it from her mother and father, etc. It’s a family tradition.
Fear not, though! Even if you’re a recent transplant to the state, you can start your own family tradition by following these few tips for hunting up—and identifying—wildflowers. The identifying is voluntary, but if you’re like me, you’ll want to know what you’re seeing, especially if it’s particularly rare. Plus, chances are your kids will begin asking what that flower is once you’ve introduced them to the sport.
I refer to it as a sport because I’m semi-competitive about finding wildflowers. Each new one I see is another notch in my mental bedpost. I would be fully competitive, but no one actually wants to compete with me—due to lack of interest, not because I’m so amazingly good at it.
Finding wildflowers can be as simple as driving along and spotting patches of color on the roadside. Stopping to look is optional, but it greatly enhances the experience. Knowing that the mass of purple flowers you’re passing at 65 mph is Pacific pea (a wild sweet pea) is not as rewarding as seeing said patch up close and on foot. Pacific pea is vigorously blooming right now and will continue to do so for weeks more. California poppies are native to Oregon, too, and their blooms are easily recognizable from the road.
Another common roadside flower is big white daisies, which generally aren’t natives, although they’ve naturalized to the area. I don’t bother distinguishing between daisies or between plants like wild carrot, wild radish, Queen Anne’s lace, and other similar blooms —the caveat being that it’s essential to know which of these is from the hemlock family. Some of that last group are edible, but since they closely resemble hemlock (not native, for the record), don’t go eating them unless you’re an expert-level forager.
One note about roadside flowers: many counties mow down everything (or kill it with foliar sprays) within a few feet to each side of the road, so it’s useless to look there. You can probably find out where this happens by doing some light internet research.
For a deeper dive into wildflower hunting, begin with your local parks. It doesn’t have to be a park with a large meadow—in fact, most parks plant any open areas with grass (usually non-native) and mow regularly. The best place to search is along hiking trails or nature walks. In addition to spotting the obvious ones, keep your eyes peeled for tiny flowers you might not notice otherwise because there are tons of them.
Forested walks will reveal different flowers than a walk through grasslands. Shaded areas are where you’re more likely to see things like orchids. There’s something incredibly satisfying about seeing an orchid or a trillium (the trillium blooms have passed for this year, but try looking for them early next spring) because there tend to be fewer of them.
You may be surprised by how familiar some wildflowers seem. To develop horticultural varieties, wildflowers have been taken from their natural habitats and bred over generations to produce the plants sold in nurseries. Columbine is a great example of this. In Oregon, wild columbine is either red and yellow (western columbine) or simply yellow columbine. Horticultural columbine comes in many shades.
By the way, wild columbine will be blooming soon near you.
Really, any space left to grow wild can reveal wildflowers. I’ve frequently seen wildflowers in vacant lots. Sometimes, people intentionally plant open areas with wildflowers, often in mixes. If you have some yard space, you don’t know what to do with, this is a good option. See the end of this post for where to find these wildflower seeds.
This blog post is intended more to get you out looking at wildflowers, not necessarily telling you every that’s out there—there are far too many flowers to talk about for that—but in addition to the ones I’ve already named, I want to give a shout out to paintbrush. There’s a large variety of native paintbrush blooms, but the one I remember most from my childhood is what we used to call Giant Indian paintbrush. I believe now it’s just generally referred to as paintbrush. The color is striking crimson, and the blooms are obvious from the road but much better up close. These flowers are mostly found at higher elevations, and at least some varieties are blooming now.
For the absolute best views of wildflowers, try visiting a wildflower seed farm. There, whole fields will be blossoming. The Silver Falls Seed company in the Evans Valley area (about 2.5 miles northeast of Silverton—look for Evans Valley Loop road) often has a colorful carpet of fields covering the hills. I mention this farm because I know it well, but there are seed companies all over the state that can be easily found by googling.
Naming the flowers (and other plants?) you find is relatively simple if you get yourself a guidebook like this one or an app on your phone such as Seek. One of my favorite approaches is to take a picture of what I’m seeing and look it up later because then I have time to read about the habitat and occurrence. And, you know, brag to an unimpressed audience (AKA my husband) about what I’ve found.
There are very few downsides to hunting wildflowers, and one of them I already mentioned—while you may read that certain plants are edible, do not try them unless you’re 100% certain of what they are. If there’s any doubt, don’t do it.
Another hazard is contact dermatitis. You may walk through a few weeds to get close enough to photograph an impressive blossom, only to later find itchy red welts on your legs or arms. When this happens to me, I apply a topical antihistamine, take an oral one, or both. Even if you aren’t sensitive to most plants, the big thing everyone needs to watch out for is poison oak or poison ivy. In Western Oregon and Washington, you only need to watch out for poison oak, but there’s apparently a type of poison ivy that grows in the eastern halves of these states. I have no experience with poison ivy—I only discovered it existed when researching this post—but I can give you hard-earned tips on avoiding poison oak.
Essentially to avoid poison oak, don’t go near any even vaguely oak-shaped, shiny-leaved shrubs. The leaves of poison oak vary in color throughout the year and can range from dark green to red. Yellow is often present, and newer growth is lighter green. Again, if in any doubt, don’t touch it. Nearly everyone will have a reaction to it, and for some people, it can be severe. Trust me, it’s never pretty or at all comfortable. If you suspect an encounter with it, wash immediately with Tecnu or a similar product. Products like this are generally available at outdoor stores in an emergency.
I’ll wind this up by telling you my favorite place to look for flowers—the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness. The entire area is huge, but the specific location I’m referring to is in the Columbia Gorge, accessible from the parking lot at the Rowena Loops. You can find it by following the Historic Columbia River Highway east from Mosier or west from The Dalles. Directly across the highway from the viewpoint (sporting a truly amazing view) and the parking lot is a large meadow. A visit there can be as short or as long a walk as you wish, so it’s suitable for younger kids, and flowers can be seen before you even step into the area.
So, there you go; you’re ready to go out and get started. Happy wildflower hunting!
PS. Let me know if you ever want to compete for the best finds…
Here are a few places to get Oregon native flowers:
Native Seeds of Oregon – https://www.nativeseedsoforegon.com/#
Silver Falls Seed Company – https://silverfallsseed.com
Steele Acres Seed – https://www.steeleacres.com
Willamette Wildings – https://willamettewildlings.com/seed-products/
