Last Spring, I wrote about two visits to a preserved prairie in a Port Townsend, WA golf course, one on March 29 and a followup on April 29, 2015. This 1.4 acre prairie is a remnant of the landscape that emerged after the retreat of the ice age glaciers. It survived development because of benign neglect, having been set aside as a "rough" in the golf course. It was recognized as a unique botanical site in 1986 and the Kah Tai Preserve was officially created in 1987. Volunteers from the Olympic Peninsula Chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society work to restore and maintain this treasure.
This is an update with what’s been blooming so far this year.
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I got an earlier start, with my first visit on March 14, 2016.
My next visit was on March 31. The blue Common camas were just starting to bloom. You can see Desert parsley is still making a contrasting background for the camas.
The Common camas bulbs were an important food for the native people who nurtured the fields with controlled burning in the summer. The bulbs were harvested before the flowers disappeared so that they would not be confused with the poisonous bulbs of the white-flowered Death camas which grows in among the blue camas (although apparently slightly later since I didn’t see any until April 20, see below).
Hiding down low among the foliage were some Naked broomrape.
And an occasional stalk of white flowers.
Next visit was on April 6. There were still camas buds everywhere, but some other flowers began to appear among them.
Prairie smoke was just beginning to flower. When the seed pods develop, the other name, Old Man’s Whiskers will make more sense.
The most recent trip on April 20 showed the Death Camas just starting to bloom.
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