This time of year the sun is starting to retreat less rapidly than it did near the equinox, but the cumulative effect of the season really starts to become obvious. The sun is setting a little after 5pm (and we haven’t even switch the time back yet), and even when it is up, it does not climb very high in the sky. Although the loss of light and warmth has its drawbacks, the quality of light we get can be quite nice. The picture leading off this post was taken at 3:30, mid-afternoon by most standards, yet the low angle of the sun shining through steam rising from the trees and muskeg makes the epiphytic lichens on the branches of a shore pine practically glow against the partially shaded edge of the forest in the background.

Lower temperatures associated with recent weather systems have resulted in snow at higher elevations. Although this was the first I noticed, there had been some other reports from last week, as well.

Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparia) near Crescent Harbor.

Late season flowers on a European Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparia).

While walking home one day last week, I noticed some light-green new looking growth on a Mt. Ash (Sorbus aucuparia) along the Lincoln Street green belt adjacent to Crescent Harbor. A little further along, I noticed a tree that had a few flowers. This struck me as a bit odd, since I’ve been noticing how much it already seems like fall is coming on. The temperatures haven’t really dropped yet, but the leaves are starting to, and most of the flowers are long gone.

This year I have been trying to pay more attention to blooming times, and something that has been interesting to me lately is how few things seem to be blooming even though it will be a fair while yet before we are likely to have a good freeze. The plants that are still blooming seem to fall into three categories. There are the species that don’t start blooming until late summer, there are plants with an extended blooming period, and finally the plants that seem to putting out a second, much less abundant, set of blooms well after the primary blooming period has ended.

There are only a few species that I associate with a late summer primary blooming period including Kneeling Angelica (Angelica genuflexa) and Douglas Aster (Symphiotrichum subspicatum), Rattlebox (Rhinanthus minor), and the introduced Hairy Cat’s Ears (Hypochaeris radicata).

Species with a blooming period that has a long tail include, Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium), Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), Cleavers (Galium aparine), Pacific Water-Parsley (Conioselinum gmelinii), and the introduced (and invasive) Spreading Buttercup (Ranunculus repens), and Common Ragwort (Senecio vulgaris). This last deserves special mention, as last fall I noticed it blooming until at least the second week of November, and the first plant I saw blooming this spring was in March (though it was May before I started noticing in commonly).

Finally, the group of species that are blooming well after their primary blooming period include Dandelion (Taraxacum officianale), European Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparia), and in other years I’ve also seen Giant Vetch (Vicia nigricans ssp. gigantea), and . This group seems to consist of two sub-groups, those plants that consistently do it and those where the blooming seems to be more accidental. The vetch and mountain ash definitely seem to be in the latter category, though I am not sure what might cause such an accidental flowering to occur. Dandelions (and probably the miner’s lettuce, though I’ve not noticed it specifically) do seem to have a late season push of flowers, though not nearly as abundant as in the early summer primary blooming period.

Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparia) near Crescent Harbor.

Late season new growth on a European Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparia).