Week of Wildflowers – Yellow

As I was thinking about a week of wildflowers (Mineral King wildflowers, specifically), it occurred to me that all the flowers can be categorized with the same colors I use for painting – white, yellow, blues and reds. (orange, pink, and purple pose a bit of a challenge – just work with me here. . .)

Here are eight yellow wildflowers I found recently in Mineral King:

Groundsel
Cinquefoil? Not shiny, so I don’t think it is cinquefoil. Yellow flowers and I don’t really understand one another very well.
Sulphur flower – this is new to me this year. Probably just blew past it in all the previous years.
Meadow Hosakia is also new to me this year. It’s been right there in my favorite book all along, but I disregarded it.
Monkey flower, actually “seepspring monkey flower”.
Western Wallflower (who comes up with these names??)
Dandelions qualify as wildflowers in Mineral King; what you do with them in your own yard is your own business.
I don’t know – another ubiquitous tiny yellow flower
Why is a yellow flower named “Violet”? (I just work here, but inquiring minds need to know.)

Better Living Through Mineral King

Run run run run run-away. Book problem not resolved, Mineral King as a prescription to anxiety – works for me! (temporarily, because then I have to come home again, but I’ll just think about that tomorrow!)

Swamp Onion and Corn Lily (AKA “skunk cabbage” because it resembles the plant by that name that grows on the right coast)

Lupine

Penstemmon, the kind that doesn’t show up in any of my wildflower books

Explorer’s Gentian, my favorite!

Manzanita – both beautiful in color and texture, but ever so slightly grotesque in form

Sierra Gentian, more colorful in person but still not the awesome color of the Explorer’s Gentian

Goldenrod doesn’t usually appear until August, but this year it showed up in June!