Eugene Parnell

Happening now in my garden: I was going to cut down this second year parsley plant because it's grown into a beast then I noticed all these little beetles frolicking about on the flowers. Anyone know what they are? @npub1nw7…g0ek
#gardening #PNW #pollinators
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2026-07-24 05:13:37 UTC

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That is such a weird sounding cross I had to look it up. Desert Willow is apparently in the catalpa family too o guess?

2026-07-23 22:04:00 UTC

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seeds are fair game as far as I'm concerned. It's not like the Fred Meyer landscape team is going to collect them.

2026-07-21 06:40:37 UTC

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oh yeah. Where's Richard Dreyfuss?

2026-07-21 06:18:39 UTC

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Hiking Stiletto Park part 12. Panorama of the view from the top. Photo 2: My hiking guidebook mentioned a climbers scramble trail to the true peak. I spent an hour searching only to find it leads all the way around the peak across a steep debris field and up the far side--too far for so late in the day. The funny thing is that after 5 miles and 3650 feet of elevation gain, I can still see the parking lot where I left my car (photo 3). End of thread.
#PNW #hiking #getoutside #mountains
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2026-07-21 06:07:39 UTC

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Hiking Stiletto Park part 11. Nearing the old fire lookout that is the end of the trail, elev 7660 feet. Once there was a little hut here and someone would spend the summer in it with a telescope keeping an eye out for forest fires. It was taken down in the 50s and there are only some rocks left. You can see the neighboring mountain is almost completely burned. It's impossible to travel through the Cascades now without encountering massive areas like this.
#PNW #hiking #getoutside #mountains
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2026-07-21 05:54:02 UTC

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Hiking Stiletto Park part 10. I had no idea what this little purple thing was--turns out it's a Delphinium! Plant ID app says maybe it's Sutherland's larkspur (Delphinium sutherlandii). BONAP says that species is only found in far Northeast Washington, not here, but it's still the most likely ID based on flower size and color. For sure a Delphinium, but it's a far cry from the gigantic double-flowered cultivars you see at the nursery.
#PNW #hiking #getoutside #mountains
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2026-07-21 05:43:44 UTC

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Hiking Stiletto Park part 9. Here's a subalpine fleabane (Erigeron glacialis) serving as a love hotel for a pair of beetles (maybe this needs a content warning?) Photos 3-4. Check out this orange dandelion! Actually it's not a true dandelion but it is related--orange agoseris (Agoseris aurantiaca). So. Many. Flowers.
#PNW #hiking #getoutside #mountains
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2026-07-21 05:28:05 UTC

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Hiking Stiletto Park part 8. There are a lot flowers in the carrot family (apiaceae) in the Pacific Northwest and you can always tell them by their umbrella shaped flowers. But I've never seen either of these species before and had to look them up. Brandegee's desert-parsley (Lomatium brandegeei) with the yellow flowers and Canby's lovage (Ligusticum canbyi) with the white flowers.
#PNW #hiking #getoutside #mountains
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2026-07-21 05:18:00 UTC

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Hiking Stiletto Park part 7. Photo 1: This little plant is done blooming but that foliage is unmistakably a Jacob's ladder (Polemonium) --cultivated varieties are commonly sold as a garden plant. This is Polemonium californicum, one of our native species. Photo 2-3: so many plants here I've never seen before. I love the dark foliage on this plant and the unusual blooms. Leafy lousewort (Pedicularis racemosa).
#PNW #hiking #getoutside #mountains
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2026-07-21 05:13:05 UTC

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Hiking Stiletto Park part 6. Okay now we're above 5000 feet elevation and the trees are giving way to meadows. This is where things get fun. And scenic.
#PNW #hiking #getoutside #mountains
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2026-07-21 05:09:12 UTC

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Hiking Stiletto Park part 5. I passed through a steep open slope populated with these plants and at first glance I assumed they were kinnikinnick or bear berry (Arcostaphylos uva-ursi) which is a common plant across North America but looking at it more closely I'm pretty sure they are pinemat manzanita (Arctostaphylos nevadensis). We usually think of Manzanitas as California chaparral plants but they grow up here too.
#PNW #hiking #getoutside #mountains
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2026-07-21 05:03:35 UTC

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Hiking Stiletto Park part 4. I noticed this when I sat in a rock to take a breather-- a completely new plant to me, this is Pipsissewa (Chimaphila umbellata). it's apparently a myco-heterotroph, which means it gets a significant part of its nutrients from fungi in the soil. But apparently it only grows in established mature forests and resents disturbed soil so probably not a good candidate for a garden setting.
#PNW #hiking #getoutside #mountains
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2026-07-21 04:59:51 UTC

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Hiking Stiletto Park part 3. The trail follows a creek valley for a couple miles then begins to switchback up the mountain and we get a first glimpse of a view. Photo 2: I see a lot of hemlock trees with this syndrome-- loss of foliage and strange web like stuff. I'm guessing this is a kind of adelgid, a tiny invasive insect that is devastating Eastern hemlocks elsewhere in the continent. If anyone knows please tell.
#PNW #hiking #getoutside #mountains
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2026-07-21 04:49:18 UTC

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Hiking Stiletto Park part 2. This area was burned pretty extensively in the past few years and it shows. With the trees dead other plants have an opportunity to grow in the plentiful light. You can see how fireweed got its name-- it's one of the first colonizers of burned areas. Those white things there are spittle bugs--little leaf hoppers that enclose themselves in a wad of vile tasting spittle to keep from being eaten. #PNW #hiking #getoutside #mountains
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2026-07-21 04:45:15 UTC

Another plant hiking thread. Glad I got this one in before the smoke set in. This time we're going to Stiletto Peak, a dramatically-named but little-visited mountain in the North Cascades in Washington State. It's accessed via a short stretch on the Pacific Crest Trail where it meets Highway 20, about 30 miles / 50km south of the Canadian border.
#PNW #hiking #getoutside #mountains
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2026-07-20 01:01:32 UTC

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it's a good idea. I saw some similar on a garden tour a few weeks ago. Looking forward to pics of yours!
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2026-07-19 21:42:36 UTC

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I have a little camping lantern that has a battery compartment that is the same way--only openable with a coin. Because I always carry spare change when I go to the woods

2026-07-19 16:29:24 UTC

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Sigh I know people like this. Perhaps she wraps all her plants in plastic to "keep the bugs off them" 🙄

2026-07-18 01:00:31 UTC

I am always happy when I see this on my wisteria. This is the handiwork of leaf cutter bees. You can tell by the nearly perfect circular cutouts they make. I've only seen them actually cutting circles once. You can hear their jaws working like tiny little scissors. It's the funniest thing.
#gardening #pollinators #PNW
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2026-07-17 20:10:42 UTC

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Thanks for reading! I had never seen that plant before and had to look it up.

2026-07-17 07:03:05 UTC

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Yeah that's the main trail up that side of Adams. I did that trail. Just posted a thread about it.

2026-07-17 06:47:10 UTC

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Hiking Mt Adams part 9. This is about as far up as I went and yes it's a steep as it looks. I went up the snowfield a little way and saw this huge boulder dislodge from the slope and come rolling down. It's in the center of the second photo; it was the size of a washing machine. This is why climbers always summit at 3 AM, well before the heat of the day melts the ice and causes events like this. End of thread.
#hiking #PNW #getoutside #nativeplants
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2026-07-17 06:39:34 UTC

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Hiking Mt Adams part 8. It's all alpine meadow up here. I won't bore you with pictures of heather but here's some more unusual (and new to me) plants: Gordon's ivesia (Ivesia gordonii), Pacific lupine (Lupinus lepidus--look how tiny it is!), and Mt Hood pussypaws (Cistanthe umbellata). #hiking #PNW #getoutside #nativeplants
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2026-07-17 06:35:05 UTC

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Hiking Mt Adams part 7. Here's high camp, a flat area at around 7,000 feet. I was thinking how the peak actually looks smaller here than it does from down below but then I realized it's because I'm halfway up it already. Looking back the other way is an incredible view of Tahoma, Mt Rainier, which is maybe 50 miles away.
#hiking #PNW #getoutside #nativeplants
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2026-07-17 06:28:56 UTC

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Hiking Mt Adams part 6. Getting higher on the mountain now and it gets a lot steeper. You can see how loose the rocks are. Mt Adams is a stratovolcano and the cone is mostly cinders and loose rock. Theres also snow fields to be crossed even in July.
#hiking #PNW #getoutside #nativeplants
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2026-07-17 06:19:25 UTC

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Hiking Mt Adams part 5. I'm hiking the trail that leads to High Camp, a climber's base camp for those ascending the mountain the hard way, up the Adams glacier. On the way, it crosses the Pacific Crest Trail that runs in a North and South direction along the Western flank of the mountain. To the left is Canada (400 miles or so) and to the right is Mexico (2000 miles give or take).
#hiking #PNW #getoutside #nativeplants
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2026-07-17 06:09:09 UTC

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Hiking Mt Adams part 3. More flowers: avalanche lily (Erythronium montanum), which I felt lucky to see as I think they have a pretty brief bloom time. And of course paintbrush flower-- these are mountain paintbrush (Castilleja parviflora).
#hiking #PNW #getoutside #nativeplants
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2026-07-17 06:03:59 UTC

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Hiking Mt Adams part 3. We're on the East side of the Cascades here so the forests are quite a bit more open and drier than on the Western slopes, mostly hemlock and a few lodgepole pines are starting to appear. Flowers along the way include high mountain cinquefoil (Potentilla flabellifolia) and spreading phlox (Phlox diffusa).
#hiking #PNW #getoutside #nativeplants
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2026-07-17 05:56:15 UTC

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Hiking Mt Adams part 2. The money shot here is Muddy Meadows, a popular viewpoint on the Northwest side of the mountain. Those are lupine giving the purple color to the meadow, but when you get up close there are other flowers too like these elephanthead lousewort (Pedicularis groenlandica) and also wild strawberries.
#hiking #PNW #getoutside #nativeplants
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2026-07-17 05:47:03 UTC

Ok another plants and hiking trip. This time I visited Pahto or Mt Adams, the second highest peak (12,281 ft / 3743M) in Washington state. I've always been fascinated by its remoteness. Few Washingtonians ever even see it except on the distant horizon--it lies sandwiched between the vast Gifford Pinchot National Forest and the Yakima Indian reservation, and there's hardy even a paved road that passes near it. A short thread.
#hiking #PNW #getoutside #nativeplants
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2026-07-17 03:59:21 UTC

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I was there over 4th of July. Didn't stay there as it was full but stayed at Killen Ceeek nearby and went hiking on Adams. It is one of the prettiest drive in campsites I've ever seen.

2026-07-15 07:54:48 UTC

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I can see Blake Island from my house, but in all the years I've lived here I have never been to it. Thanks for sharing the article. I didn't even know that Tillicum Village shut down. Always wanted to do that. I have no idea what option I'd prefer but probably one that keeps it as wild as possible while still allowing some visitors.

2026-07-14 18:45:13 UTC

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Dahlias are absolutely vulgar. Here you go.
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2026-07-12 03:39:05 UTC

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Holly wood is relatively hard but nothing like lignum vitae or ebony. And you're right-among North American woods locust is about the hardest, along with mesquite. Persimmon is surprisingly hard too (it's in the same genus as ebony). Holly wood is bone white in color and very fine grained. It's prized by wood turners and woodworkers who do inlay. If you know anyone who does woodworking ask them if they want any before you chuck it into a bin or chop it into firewood.

2026-07-10 23:53:48 UTC

Here's a plant I love for midsummer. Liatris spicata, commonly known as blazing star or gay feather, is in the Aster family and is native to Eastern North America. It really wants hot full sun, at least in the Pacific Northwest; it may tolerate a little shade in hotter climates. It has such a strong architectural presence without being overwhelming; it integrates well into a mixed bed. Here it's planted with some mustard colored yarrow (Achillea millefolium). #Bloomscrolling #gardening
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2026-07-09 19:23:27 UTC

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Lucky for you! They seem to do well here in general. Mine are just in too much shade. I might see if my neighbor will adopt mine, then at least I can see them flower over there.

2026-07-09 17:51:11 UTC

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Thank you!

2026-07-09 14:46:01 UTC

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It is ironic. His name is on the Forestry Sciences building at the University of Washington.

2026-07-09 08:36:47 UTC

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Bloedel Reserve part 8. A couple more photos of the meadow. I have no idea what this thistle is but it's a beast! If anyone can identify the red flower in photo 2, please do, as I can't. End of thread
#PNW #gardening
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2026-07-09 08:31:46 UTC

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Bloedel Reserve part 7. The grounds here are immense. The staff are in the process of reclaiming one of the several huge meadows from sheep pasture into native wildflowers. Photo 1 here is the pre-reclaimed area. The other photos are of the section that's done. There's some blanket flower (Gaillardia, yarrow (Achillea millefolium), and California poppy (Eschscholzia californica which isn't actually native but so naturalized it may as well be).
#PNW #gardening
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2026-07-09 08:08:56 UTC

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Bloedel Reserve part 6. There are a lot of rare and unusual plants here. Like these Chilean hard ferns (Parablechnum cordatum), and this gorgeous big leaf rhododendron (I can't tell what species). Which seems add odds with the aesthetic of the original estate. There's no parterres, no English floral borders or topiary. It's just far too big to be groomed and staged like you'd see at an English estate like Great Dixter or Sissinghurst. I'm not complaining. Just noting.
#PNW #gardening
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2026-07-09 07:52:05 UTC

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Bloedel Reserve part 5. I first visited this garden years ago and I remember it was the first place I had seen Gunnera tinctoria (photo 1). It's still there. The woodland garden area also has a nice stand of Cardiocrinum giganteum, or giant Himalayan lily (photo 1). Another plant I've been trying to grow for years with little success. And talk about plant goals: they have a Paris Polyphylla, a plant I've been trying to obtain for years (also native to the Himalayan region).
#PNW #gardening
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2026-07-09 07:46:01 UTC

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Bloedel Reserve part 4. Later, in the mid 20th century, a Japanese style guest house was added along with traditional Japanese gardens-- a Zen gravel garden and a moss garden. And yeah the gravel garden is nice, but look at how spectacular that Mahonia is!
#PNW #gardening
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2026-07-09 07:41:19 UTC

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Bloedel Reserve part 3. Prentice Bloedel was a timber baron. He bought fifty acres on Bainbridge Island for a summer home and built this European style manor house on it. Later the estate expanded into a substantial farm and botanical gardens. The estate was bequeathed to the University of Washington and eventually became the public garden we see now. The inside of the house is partially open with some family and historic memorabilia.
#PNW #gardening
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2026-07-09 07:34:12 UTC

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Bowel Rwswrve part 2. It's best to reserve tickets online. A nice person at the guard house will check your reservation and if you're lucky you'll see this plant, Dierama pulcherrimum, or angels fishing rod, in bloom. It's a member of the iris family native to South Africa. I have one in my garden but it's only bloomed for me once in 10 years.
#PNW #gardening
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2026-07-09 07:31:19 UTC

Last week I took a trip to the Bloedel Reserve, an historic estate on Bainbridge Island just outside of Seattle. Today it's a botanical garden that has a some pretty interesting plants. To get there from Seattle, you take a ferry across Puget Sound. If you e never been in a car ferry before, it's quite an experience. Out here it's just a fact of life. (In this day, we got a Coast Guard escort, probably because of the World Cup matches in Seattle). A short thread. #PNW #gardening
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2026-07-02 06:12:09 UTC

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West Seattle Garden Tour 14/14. We don't often see vegetable gardens on tours like these; this is the best of this year's crop. I love the hooped archway supporting peas on one side and blackberries on the other.
That's all for this year's tour. There was lots more but only so much I can post. If you're in the area next June you can attend.
https://www.westseattlegardentour.org
#gardening #Bloomscrolling #Seattle @npub1nw7…g0ek
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2026-07-02 05:54:41 UTC

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West Seattle Garden Tour 13/14. Not a lot of great native plantings features this year. Heres one little passage that caught my eye. I have a feeling these sword ferns are volunteers. They're amongst the most common plants in our forest and they live to pop up in stone retaining walls. The sedum here is also native to the PNW (Sedum spathifolium 'Cape Blanco'). Always a good pairing. #gardening #Bloomscrolling #Seattle @npub1nw7…g0ek
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2026-07-02 05:48:54 UTC

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West Seattle Garden Tour 12/14. I had to snap a pic of this Pittisporum tenuifolium 'Tasman Ruffles' clipped into ball. Normally you'd see this done with boxwood, a European plant. But it's susceptible to a disease called boxwood blight and everyone is looking alternatives. This plant is a New Zealand native. I have many of these shrubs as an informal hedge but seeing one clipped into a ball is new for me. #gardening #Bloomscrolling #Seattle @npub1nw7…g0ek
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2026-07-02 05:45:02 UTC

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West Seattle Garden Tour 11/14. Another new trend this year: making your potting bench part of the display. People used to hide this kind of thing when visitors came around. Now they just tidy it up and include it on the tour. Tidy it up being the key concept here--mine never looks this organized. #gardening #Bloomscrolling #Seattle @npub1nw7…g0ek
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2026-07-02 05:41:11 UTC

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West Seattle Garden Tour 10/14. If you have any kind of a garden it will benefit from a water feature. Some are elaborate and high maintenance. Others are simple and made from recycled materials. This baby tub was rescued from a neighbor's house and ended up housing tadpoles. One trend I saw several times this year are these solar power water recirculators that fit into almost any container and offer drinking opportunities for birds and pollinators. #gardening #Bloomscrolling #Seattle @npub1nw7…g0ek
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2026-07-02 05:25:27 UTC

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West Seattle Garden Tour 9/14. Containers are a whole art unto themselves. I believe that when it comes to containers, more is more. Here are some well composed examples. Photo 4: I particularly like how this gardener matched the foliage color with the upholstery color of her chair cushions. #gardening #Bloomscrolling #Seattle @npub1nw7…g0ek
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2026-07-02 05:11:48 UTC

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West Seattle Garden Tour 8/14. I know the gardener here really has great taste in plants because he has my favorite hydrangea, Hydrangea aspera ssp sargentiana, and it's a fine big specimen too. Those leaves are astonishingly velvety and the flowers, when they open in a few days, look like something out of Dr Seuss. #gardening #Bloomscrolling #Seattle @npub1nw7…g0ek
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2026-07-02 05:04:14 UTC

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West Seattle Garden Tour 7/14. Here's a common technique for handing the dry shade under trees: containers. These are all irrigated via a drip system in a timer. Plants here include hostas (bottom), Beesia deltophylla (far right), and one of my new favorites, Boehmia capitata (upper left)-- I actually just got this plant for my own garden and I'm trying to figure out where to put it. #gardening #Bloomscrolling #Seattle @npub1nw7…g0ek
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2026-07-02 05:00:15 UTC

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West Seattle Garden Tour 6/14. Here's another shady garden retreat. Again gilt edged Eleagnus is paired with some classical statuary. Those strappy leafed plants are a common house plant, cast iron plant (Aspidistra) which is actually hardy in our maritime climate. #gardening #Bloomscrolling #Seattle @npub1nw7…g0ek
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2026-07-02 04:53:33 UTC

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West Seattle Garden Tour 5/14. Beachfront side of the same garden. There's a particular shade of red that's captured in the Crocosmia (the grassy tall flowers), the annual Pelargoniums, and the accessories and hanging baskets. Its simplicity is its success. And T hat heron sculpture is perfectly placed. #gardening #Bloomscrolling #Seattle @npub1nw7…g0ek
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2026-07-02 04:43:08 UTC

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West Seattle Garden Tour 4/14. This living wreath of gilt edged Eleagnus around the sculpture is a work of art that you only get with time and attention. Something like this can't be bought--it has to be grown in place, and cared for over a long span of time. #gardening #Bloomscrolling #Seattle @npub1nw7…g0ek
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2026-07-02 04:39:02 UTC

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West Seattle Garden Tour 3/14. Notice how the white leaves of Acer japonica 'Ukugomi' are set off against that dark gray siding. No other colored maple would have had the same presence. The color palette is really restricted here-- grays, whites, greens, and pops of bright red. It's carried through the garden with extreme discipline, and that's what makes it so extraordinary. #gardening #Bloomscrolling #Seattle @npub1nw7…g0ek
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2026-07-02 04:34:24 UTC

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West Seattle Garden Tour 2/14. For me this was the highlight of this year's tour. You'd never know this garden was steps away from the beach and a busy street. This property has been gardened by the same professional gardener for forty years and it shows. The plants here are groomed spectacularly, the plant palette carefully curated, and it's all color coordinated with an expert designer's eye. #gardening #Bloomscrolling #Seattle @npub1nw7…g0ek
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2026-07-02 04:25:49 UTC

This past Sunday was the 30th annual West Seattle Garden Tour, an event sponsored by a nonprofit as a charity fundraiser for various environmental and arts organizations in the community. (Disclaimer: I am a volunteer garden coordinator for this organization). Here's a few highlight photos and some commentary on what makes these gardens noteworthy. A short thread. 1/14
#gardening #Bloomscrolling #Seattle @npub1nw7…g0ek
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2026-06-26 23:24:42 UTC

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oh no that stuff is impossible to clean. Even on a good day. Sorry that happened. Good luck.

2026-06-26 22:06:13 UTC

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Pretty sure that's common mullein. It has a tap root so moving it will likely kill it. The good news is that it will make more of itself whether you want it to or not 😆

2026-06-26 01:40:53 UTC

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American Gen X midwesterner here. The construction "just x anymore" is weird to me. But the construction "not just x anymore" sounds perfectly reasonable. I blame it on the Florida Orange Juice Growers Association and their inescapable TV ads "it's not just for breakfast anymore!" from the 80s.

2026-06-25 17:27:11 UTC

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Thanks! Yes I thought about going over to see Rampart Lakes (they're so close) but I had gotten a late start and the mosquitoes were so bad even the 50% deet wasn't cutting it so, next time. I'm sure I'll go back.

2026-06-25 17:18:25 UTC

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Thanks!

2026-06-25 05:33:40 UTC

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Hiking Lila Lake part 8. Here's a panorama to help give a sense of this place. Snow is mostly gone but there's still some patches out of the picture behind me. A spectacular location on a spectacular day. Not shown: the mosquitoes. Clouds and clouds of them. I was glad I wasn't staying overnight. End.
#hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
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2026-06-25 05:29:50 UTC

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Hiking Lila Lake part 7. Here is Lila Lake, small and shallow but oh so beautiful. That island shaped like an outrigger canoe is really something. At this vantage there's not much growing but stunted mountain hemlocks and noble firs and these heathers.
#hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
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2026-06-25 04:47:39 UTC

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Hiking Lila Lake part 6. So here is Rachel Lake. It's got campsites on its shores (backpackers only) but as this was a Monday there mostly no one here. It's also plagued with mosquitoes at the moment. As you can see, the trail continues on up the ridge and then over its top.
#hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
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2026-06-25 04:31:55 UTC

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Hiking Lila Lake part 5. Photos 1-2: the trees in this area are mountain hemlocks and there some whoppers up here. Looking at a toppled trunk you can see how they grow in a spiral pattern. Photos 3 & 4: here's one of my favorite plants, Lewisia columbiana, named after Merriweather Lewis. It just loves to grow on boulders in mid elevation clearings.
#hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
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2026-06-25 04:10:48 UTC

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Hiking Lila Lake part 4. Waterfalls along the trail have their own habitat niches. Photos 2 & 3: maidenhair fern (Adiantum aleuticum) and wood saxifrage (Saxifraga mertensiana) literally clinging to the rock of the falls. Photo 4: I made a friend, a Cascades frog (Rana cascadae, and yeah I had to look it up on the app cause I know nothing about frogs). Surprised to see it scampering about the falls because that water is ice cold.
#hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
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2026-06-25 04:00:36 UTC

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Hiking Lila Lake part 3. Meadow plants. Photo 1: our native meadow rue (Thalictrum occidentale), a plant I don't see too often. Photos 2-3: another uncommon plant, our native monkshood (Aconitum colombianum), which is quite poisonous but which will soon open these buds into pretty purple flowers. 4: I have this in my garden, woolly sunflower or Oregon sunshine (Eriophyllum lanatum), an easy-to-grow groundcover for sunny spots.
#hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
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2026-06-25 03:50:50 UTC

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Hiking Lila Lake part 2. Like most trails here this one starts in a river valley and the foliage here is lush. Some bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), which is a species of dogwood that creeps in the ground instead of forming a tree. Vanilla leaf (Achlys triphylla) related to trillium. Clintonia uniflora, a plant in the lily family (uniflora, hence one flower per plant). #hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
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2026-06-25 03:44:42 UTC

Here's another hiking thread with plants. Lila Lake isn't as well known as its neighbor Rachel Lake but it's scenic. Both are located 2 hours' drive East of Seattle in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area. Some parts of this wilderness are only accessible if you have a special permit (granted by lottery) to keep them from being overrun. But Lila Lake is in the cheap seats, no lottery needed, and on Monday I just got up and went. A short thread. #hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
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2026-06-24 05:25:59 UTC

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aha that's good. I was thinking of taking my family to see Monte Cristo and this might get them to actually do it. Thanks for the info!

2026-06-24 00:56:43 UTC

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that's a pretty ride from Verlot to Barlow Pass. How was your son's experience getting to Monte Cristo? I know for a long time people were warning about having to carry your bike over the stream or on a log or something. Then I heard there was an alternate route (the "wagon road") that goes down the east side of the river so you don't need to do the crossing. So is it currently possible to bicycle all the way from the highway to Monte Cristo ghost town?

2026-06-23 20:13:13 UTC

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It really is!

2026-06-22 03:55:13 UTC

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that's the perfect name for it!

2026-06-22 03:54:44 UTC

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WTA website says it's 12 miles round trip and about 2800 ft elevation gain. It seems harder than it is, there's lots of comments to that effect in the trip reports. The path is real rocky and uneven and the grade is really steep in spots. But that's what makes it fun!

2026-06-21 07:00:39 UTC

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Hiking Gothic Basin part 10. There's a small alpine lake up here called Foggy Lake. Here's it is, still partially frozen. If you look closely you can see some people there for scale. I'm not sure why they call it Gothic Basin but I'd like to believe it's because these incredible triangular peaks look a bit like the rooflines of Gothic cathedrals. Anyway thanks for following me to the end of the trail/end of thread. #hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
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2026-06-21 06:55:08 UTC

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Hiking Gothic Basin part 9. There's not much growing up here except heather. It's blooming already and the snow has barely gone. The growing season up here is only maybe 4 months long so plants get busy quick. It's also why these alpine ecosystems are so fragile--every broken twig takes years and years to regrow. If those little flowers look familiar it's because blueberries are also in the heather family (Ericaceae).
#hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
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2026-06-21 06:50:25 UTC

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Hiking Gothic Basin part 8. Okay this is the money shot. Gothic basin, about 5400 feet above sea level (1650m). It's no Everest but in our climate it stays snow bound well into the summer. This image is a panorama, just to give you an idea of what surrounds you standing up here. Zoom in and scroll back and forth and pretend you're turning your head. #hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
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2026-06-21 06:47:18 UTC

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Hiking Gothic Basin part 7. I lost count of how many waterfalls there are along this trail. Probably half a dozen. Here's a short video of one. Watch till the end of the camera pan, it's worth it.
#hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
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2026-06-21 06:37:55 UTC

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Hiking Gothic Basin part 6. We're nearing the tree line now. The trail is getting gnarly. And can I say this is a *hard* trail. It's steep and rocky and in quite a few places you have to use your hands to pull yourself up.
#hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
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2026-06-21 06:24:21 UTC

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Hiking Gothic Basin part 5. Look at the absolutely stunning little tableau of plant life on this stump. Looks like it consists of more Primula jeffreyi, a wee little deer fern, and a kind of club moss called Lycopodium clavatum (which apparently some people call elk moss?). It's a living fossil--club mosses are primitive plants that were amongst the first to colonize land almost half a billion years ago. #hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
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2026-06-21 06:18:23 UTC

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Hiking Gothic Basin part 4. Dodecatheon jeffreyi/Primula jeffreyi. Shooting star is the common name for these. I see the white ones pretty regularly but I seldom see the purple ones. This one is growing by a mossy seep in the rock.
#hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
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2026-06-21 06:01:15 UTC

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Hiking Gothic Basin part 3. Aruncus dioicus or goat's beard, a plant found all around the Northern Hemisphere that almost no one notices except when it's flowering. Aquilegia formosa, our native columbine. Formosa in this case just means well formed and has nothing to do with Taiwan.
#hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
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2026-06-21 05:46:23 UTC

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Hiking Gothic Basin part 2. Lowland Forest is damp and still soggy from snowmelt above. Contrast the giant leaves of Western skunk cabbage (Lysichiton americanus) with our native horse tail (Equisetum hymenale). Cow parsnip (Heracleum maximum) in bloom-- look at all the diverse little insects stuck into it. These plants are edible but they look very much like a couple others that are really toxic, so maybe don't eat them.
#hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
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2026-06-21 05:23:29 UTC

Here's another hiking thread with plants--my trip yesterday trip to Gothic Basin, in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State, 2 hours' drive NE of Seattle. It's right near the old mining ghost town of Monte Cristo which has its own crazy history. That's for another day. Today we're going up, up, up past the snow line. A short thread.
#hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
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2026-06-17 21:11:34 UTC

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ah well I know what I'm doing next week! Thanks for the news!

2026-06-17 03:03:24 UTC

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I have heard of spinosad. I think it's one of the things they use to kill head lice. I've never used it in the garden. It's a general purpose insect killer so will affect anything that crawls in it, so it's a bit broader In its effects than just spraying soapy water. But will kill bugs for sure.

2026-06-16 16:37:10 UTC

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They pop up in unusual places. There's one in a parking strip of an obviously neglected house a few blocks from me. I dont know how often they actually set viable seed and reproduce here. They're pollinated by carrion flies (thus the awful smell) which of course we have here but I don't know if they're the right kind.

2026-06-16 07:05:03 UTC

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Vashon garden's part 8. Lastly, a stop at tiny village of Dockton, once a bustling fishing and canning facility, now has only a few historic homes left. One of them has a lovely windswept cottage garden overlooking the harbor.
If you live in the #PNW and are interested in touring gardens like these, you can do so by joining the Northwest Perennial Alliance.https://northwestperennialalliance.org
#Seattle #Bloomscrolling #gardening #PNW
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2026-06-16 06:58:02 UTC

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Vashon garden's part 7. The plant collection here is tremendous. Photo 1: Tradescantia 'blushing bride'. 2: Dracunculus vulgaris, voodoo lily or corpse lily, smalls like rotting meat when it first blooms (and oh could you smell it here). 3: Bletilla striata or hyacinth orchid.
#Seattle #Bloomscrolling #gardening #PNW
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2026-06-16 06:52:08 UTC

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Vashon gardens part 6. There's even topiary centerpiece of the Carhardt garden is the pond, which requires quite a bit of maintenance to keep it pristine and pool-quality. It has an island with dwarf conifers on it. There's also an entire Indonesian gazebo in carved teak, and lots of expertly arranged containers.
#Seattle #Bloomscrolling #gardening #PNW
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2026-06-16 06:45:39 UTC

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Vashon gardens part 5. Second: the very famous Carhardt Garden, considered one of the best private gardens in Puget Sound. It's a private residence on several acres fronting Quartermaster Harbor. Mr Carhardt has spent decades constructing a multi-acre shade garden filled with exotic and rare woodland plants from around the world. His wife collects sculpture from local artists (and creates some herself).
#Seattle #Bloomscrolling #gardening #PNW
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