A perfect spring morning in Yosemite Valley.

Wawona Road

Driving to the Valley from Yosemite West....the snow has melted from the recent spring storm....but there are still white snowflakes in some of trees.  These snowflakes are the beautiful blossoming mountain dogwood....which sparkled brilliantly in the early morning sun....They can be easily seen growing along HWY 41....at Alvalanche Creek and Grouse Creek.

Harlequin Lupine......growing along the right hand shoulder of the road..shortly before reaching the Wawona Tunnel. There is no place to safely photograph them.  They have been in bloom for the past 3 weeks.  They are beautiful beautiful beautiful.   You will always remember seeing your first harlequin lupine....love at first site. The colors.....are joyous and lively, cheerful and brilliant...like the colors a Harlequin would wear for his comic routine....to put a smile on your face....as the Harlequin lupine does as well... by wearing its natural little colorful outfit.....making us smile right back at him !!!  Amazing... happy colors.....the unusual pink and yellow harlequin....whose latin name is Lupinus stiversii.

This spectacular blossom has 3 colors....pink outer wing petals....yellow banner petal....white keel petal....it is a member of the pea family.  Numerous blossoms are clustered to form a terminal spike that is popping out with color....just like a clown who pops out from the little tin box as you turn the crank.....childhood memories of mom providing us with such beautiful happy toys....to have a figure on a spring jump up at you when the lid is lifted !!!! The harlequin lupine is a favorite pick (Choice) of the many lupines growing in the Park....a favorite wildflower period.  Living up to...what its name suggests, the harlequin lupine provides much joy and joyful color for the wildflower enthusiast.  Found below 4600 feet.

Yosemite Valley

At the Bridalveil Fall junction, a beautiful young deer gracefully ran across the road.  Ribbon Fall was still flowing.   Yosemite Falls has increased her volume from last week.  The Valley looked and smelled as if it had just rained.....or snowed !!!

Valley Loop Trail...toward el Capitan

An hour jog with stops to smell the flowers and photograph them....was perfect.......the song birds were singing, the carpet of lupine....with only a few lupine in flower....took a picture...in order to show you their beauty on this Mother's Day.  Miner's lettuce is in bloom...took a picture of a small patch near an old lichen covered tree.

While kneeling down to take a picture of the cluster of climbers on el Capitan, I spotted Golden Brodiaea....one of the first wildflowers I met after moving to Yosemite West....Golden Brodiaea is in the Amaryllis family...a perennial....living for more than one year....from bulbs or corms...the flowers are perfect...meaning....a flower having both staminate and pistillate parts.  They love sunny spots.  They grow on long slender stems, their flowers are a pale yellow with a dark brown center vein on each of its six petals.  Its leaves are grass like ...looking like those of a wild onion...wild onion does belong to the same Amaryllis family!!!   The leaves grow from the base of the flower stalk....like a wild onion ....the corm... is a bulb like underground thickening of the stem.  It is commonly  found in dryish habits from 2000 to 10000 feet!  I snapped a picture of el Capitan with a couple of Golden Brodiaea in the foreground....hope you can spot them....I almost missed them.....

Notice.... its 6 petals....Notice... the beautiful color ...pale yellow ...gold....Notice....the delicately painted purplish brown vein markings...Notice ..the symmetrically shaped blossom....that grows 8 to 32 inches tall on multiple stems.  As I tried to take some pictures for you, there was a slight late morning breeze.....making close up photography with the ipod a little difficult.

After finding the first golden Brodiaea on this perfect spring morning in Yosemite Valley, I found many more of these beautiful flowers sprinkled about the forest floor.....looking like golden stars.  Golden Stars is the common name.....the latin name is  Brodiaea lutea var.scabra.  The latin word lutea means yellow... does scabra mean pretty face?   They bloom in the Park from April to July.  GoldenStars....Golden Brodiaea....gets the gold star for being the most beautiful....on this day!!!

Joyful and happy wildflowers.......making us joyful and happy.  I am thankful for my mom..... who instilled a  love of flowers...flower by flower...into my life....as we planted and tended to our backyard garden...as she shared her love of flowers with me...flower by flower. So from our mother's arm....we must now find our own way...with words of wisdom from our moms....

"To be more JOYFUL......be more LOVING."  

A perfect spring morning in Yosemite Valley...with beautiful perfect spring wildflowers... reminding us to give that perfect gift of flowers to our loved ones, especially to our moms.

Share a family vacation with your mom, grandma, and all your love ones...Stay in a beautiful Scenic Wonders' cabin....where you can cook all the meals for mom.....There are beautiful flowers for mom...growing about the yard...and flowers are just about growing everywhere in Yosemite West and in Yosemite National Park.....providing much joy for the wildflower enthusiast...and for moms.  Call us or visit us online..Happy Mother's Day to all our moms.