BOTANY

Springtime in northern California

A photo collection

Milkmaids (Cardamine californica), a lover of disturbed places. I’ve seen it only along the roadside and nowhere else

I’m currently housesitting at a friend’s cabin in a remote part of northern California with Nikki Hill. The Klamath River has been brown and silty all winter due to the dam removal projects up stream (yay, dam removal!!). Where the Salmon River joins it blue and clear, the contrast is startling. See below:

Salmon River on left, flowing into the Klamath, right, whose flow is from bottom to top in this photo.

Flowers and new shoots have been popping (and butterflies with them), and here’s some of the photos I’ve been taking.

Let me know in the comments if you’d like to see more photo posts like this. Thanks!

A theme of anthropogenic disturbance theme runs throughout many of these because this region, like at least 3/4 of the planet’s ice-free surface, has been inflected or disrupted by human activity for time out of mind. I’ve definitely got an affinity for such ruderal species, who pop up after changes. I find…