Saturday, June 25, 2011

Columbia Tiger Lily - Roadside Wonders

I love wildflowers.. those wonderful treasures that self-seed and come back each year to amaze and thrill us and make driving or walking through the countryside such bliss.  I await the blooming of the wild Columbia Tiger Lily each summer, they are my all-time favorite wildflower.  They LOOK like their tamed and enlarged hybrid cousins, but these are only about the size of a the circumference of an egg.  The Columbia Tiger Lily consists of several nodding flowers on a moderately tall gangly stem The flowers are bright orange with dark red spots near the center of the flower. The 6 tepals bend sharply backwards. 
I took these photos from my car, actually!  I was on the way home on the Historic Columbia River Highway after volunteering at Multnomah Falls for the afternoon.   I had spied the lilies in bloom on my way to the falls so was keeping a sharp eye for them on the way home so I could get a photo.  There wasn't a spot to pull fully off the road so I pulled over as far as I could, rolled down the window and zoomed in and got these photos. :-)
I also got some cow parsnip (awful name for such a lacy pretty wildflower, don't you think?) in this shot with big leaf Maple behind.
Don't these flowers look like a golden orange treasure scattered along the roadside?  I adore them!

Well, we're off to run some errands as we're having a family BBQ tomorrow.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend full of love, pretty things and yummy things to eat.

((hugs)), Teresa :-)

11 comments:

  1. These are beautiful and we also have a lot of lilies springing up on the roadsides.

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  2. Wildflowers are a beautiful thing. No one cares for them yet they spring forth each and every year to brighten the roadsides. Have a fabulous weekend. Tammy

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  3. Wow these are stunning, great photographs. I don't think we have these wild, I have never seen any. They are quite the drama Queens aren't they? Have a lovely weekend too. I am sure you will :) x

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  4. Teresa, lovely flowers, I think you should crochet up a pattern for them. Have a great time with the family at the BBQ. Hope the weather is warm and sunny.
    Hugs to you,
    Meredith

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  5. Those lilies are such a splendid gift of nature! Thank you for sharing your photos with us Teresa, I really enjoyed them!
    Have a nice Sunday!

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  6. I totally agree Teresa re wild flowers. Free gifts from Mother Nature! Those tiger lilies you have photographed are such pretty relations to their larger cousins. My garden seems to be a haven for self seeding digitalis, which I also love. It's a shame that dandelions also seem to be so free seeding though as well-LOL. Have a great BBQ, we have a lovely sunny day here in the UK.
    Jane x

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  7. These can't be roadside out there. I would be taking my shovel and grabbing a few for my garden. Hope you are having a fun BBQ this weekend. We are doing the same tonight. Yipee, I didn't get dragged out of the house today.

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  8. What a wonderful flower to have in the hedge rows...lilies are one of my favourite flowers and those look beautiful..bit hot here at the moment
    Slight sun burn yesterday and slept down stairs in my craft room last night..perfect nights sleep..far too hot upstairs
    Already hot and fans on and its only just gone 8 in the morning..crumbs may need a paddling pool today hehe
    Hugs Suz x

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  9. The lilies look so beautiful - how lovely to have them growing wild like this. Your photos are fabulous too! Have a happy week.
    Helen x

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  10. How pretty! North Carolina has a wild flower program. They put wildflower seeds in the medians and on embankments. Sometimes they grow, sometimes they don't, but they are such a pretty surprise when they do.

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  11. Such beautiful images...I love wild flowers...I always stop and take photos...right now our fields around here are a blazing yellow. Stunning. xoxoxo Hugs for a great new week.

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