Walking in Wildflowers

My backlog of photos from the herring run and numerous hikes of the past two months remains unsorted and unedited (well, partially sorted and partially edited) and my blog neglected, but the following photos from yesterday's hike have been getting so much attention on facebook that I just have to share them here for the couple of non-facebook blog readers who are still checking in daily in hopes of finding something to view while they sip their morning coffee.

Yesterday's hike was more of a walk among wildflowers, an easy trek at Harewood Plains in south Nanaimo.  We spent about four hours up there, exploring every trail available to find every pocket and meadow of jaw-dropping spring flowers. 

The pink meadows above are mostly a flower called sea blush, but there was lots of other flowers to be found.  Blue camas (not quite at its peak yet) and yellow monkeyflower were plentiful, as was spring gold, popcorn flower, buttercups, shooting stars, and flowering hawthorn bushes.

 
We didn't find any bog birdfoot trefoil, a rare plant found only in five places in Canada according to the internet, the most profuse of which is at Harewood Plains.  I think we were a couple of weeks early for it, so I may try to go back again before the end of the month. And while we didn't see the bog birdfoot, there was no lack of beauty to enjoy.

And what would a post about flowers be without one last shot of a certain sheltie posing amid the flowers?

Get out there and enjoy the spring.  It won't be long before we are complaining of the heat. (And who knows, maybe then I'll have time to post more often while sitting in a shady office, fan blasting cool air on my face!).