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These photos are of the blossoms on the apple tree in my backyard. For a week or two every spring, this little tree manages to command the dominant view in the entire yard.

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This is balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata). It is often mistaken for brown-eyed susan in the spring. Besides the small physical differences, a good indicator of which is which can be timing: balsamroot blooms in the spring, brown-eyed susan blooms in the summer.

This is bearberry, also called kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi). It generally has blooms in the spring (April to June) and fruits in midsummer. The fruits look like tiny apples. Bears and grouse like to eat them.

This is beargrass (Xerophyllum tenax), a member of the lily family. Each shoot may go several years without flowering, so some years are spectacular and others not very. Always worth appreciating when you see it.

Biscuitroot (Lomatium triternatum) is a member of the parsley family. It blooms through the spring and into early summer.

Bumblebees and butterflies are hard to get nice photos of (at least for me). Butterflies never seem to hold still more than a second or two, both zip around a lot, and things that buzz sometimes start to get annoyed with humans who persist in following them around. I'm always so proud of myself when I manage to get a decent photo of them, as they move so quickly and erratically it takes quite a bit of patience on my part.

I was collecting a few bunches of apple blossoms one morning in the nearest bowl I had on hand, and I thought they looked so lovely in it I had to set it down and take a picture. Charlotte Cat thought they were nice, too. As soon as I set them down inside, she grabbed one of the bunches and started to wander off with them dangling from her mouth. I took them away and gave her an apple leaf, which she ate.

This is cinquefoil (Pentaphylloides), though I'm not sure exactly which species. Shrubby, I'm guessing, which would make it Pentaphylloides floribunda.

I love the contrast of the rocky cliffs and the snow. That deep blue sky is a nice touch, too. I didn't create it, I just photographed it, so the credit really doesn't go to me.

The bane of the lawn. These are dandelions (Taraxacum officinale). They're pretty enough when you drive by a field full of them in bloom, but they become obnoxious when they're in your yard. They bend flat when the mower goes over them and stand up again after you've put the mower away. I swear they grow several inches in a day. A hardy and versatile plant for those into herbalism.

I love the raindrops left on plants after a storm. If you find them when the sun comes out, before they dry up, they shine like diamonds in the light. More delicate than any jewel, and they're even more exquisite somehow just because they're so transient. Ooooohhhh, aaaaaahhhh...

These are both False Solomon's Seal, but two different species. The smaller flowers are Smilacina stellata, the larger ones Smilacina racemosa.

I took this years ago back in Florida. A pink hibiscus (sorry, don't have the Latin name offhand). Too bad I didn't have the digital camera back then.

All photos are � 2003-2007 to M. Anderson

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