Another Rain Filled Day

It was supposed to be a pretty nice day, but we ended up with some heavy downpours throughout the late morning to mid-afternoon. It poured! Again!  But finally the sun came out later in the afternoon after I'd given up all hope.

We did manage to get in our Sunday morning walk at the Arboretum. I had Miranda's Wildflower Week Challenge on my mind. It's been SO wet that the arboretum hasn't mowed the fields (that's my theory anyway) - the grass is at least 2 feet tall! There are plants that I haven't seen before in the woods, and plants that I expected to see aren't there. A very odd spring.

This is Hydrophyllum tenuipes or Pacific Waterleaf. Not a particularly lovely shot, but I really like the stamens on this flower - a contrasting blue/purple color with tiny little yellow heart-shaped anthers. That's what caught my eye. 

Pacific Waterleaf grows in rich soils in moist, shaded sites along streams and in the woads - quite a common plant, although I'd not seen it before (maybe I wasn't looking!) It grows on the coast and west of the Cascades from southern British Columbia through northern California. There is an Eastern Waterleaf as well as a Largeleaf Waterleaf (there's a name!) too.

Thanks so much Miranda, for being such an inspiration!