It’s never too early to brush up on your wildflower knowledge!
The spring and summer weather brings fields of flowers to the slopes and meadows of Washington state, and there’s nothing quite like snow-capped mountains draped with stripes of purple, yellow and red flowers.
Wildflower season is a popular time for hiking around Seattle and Western Washington, and for good reason! Each day brings new blooms and fresh flowers, and it seems as though all is well with the world in the midst of a flowery meadow.
From the first signs of spring in March to the first whispers of fall in August, huge varieties of wildflowers sprout up and fall away in waves as the temperatures change over the elevations. There are over 200 wildflower species in Washington State, so it’s likely that you’ll find new flowers every time you head out on a hike.
How to identify wildflowers
While there’s no way to offer a comprehensive description of all the wildflowers you might come across in Washington, you can certainly learn how to do it yourself as needed!
Identifying plants can sometimes be a little tricky when it comes to differentiating between similar species, but here are a few ways you can correctly identify the wildflowers you find.
Look for the identifying characteristics of the plant:
- Height
- Petal shape
- Petal color
- Petal count
- Center color
- Flowers per stem
- Flowers per plant
- Leaf arrangement
- Leaf shape
Look at the surrounding area:
- Soil type
- Sun/shade
- Terrain
- Neighboring plants
- Altitude
If you have access to a wildflowers in Washington guide or Washington wildflower identification website, then you can use this information to determine what your flower is or what it most closely resembles.
If you don’t have access to those resources out on the trail, then use your phone’s camera to snap pictures of the plant’s leaves, location and flowers so that you can look it up later!
Common meadow wildflowers in Washington
Here are a few wildflowers that you’re bound to see while out and about in the great PNW! And remember, the best place for a wildflower to be is in the wild, no matter how tempting it may be to pick them and bring them home.
Broadleaf lupine
Lupinus latifolius
Bloom: June-August
Height: 2-4 feet
Color: purple, pink, white
Lupines can be found across North America and can vary in color, height and shape. What you’re most likely to see here in Washington, though, is the broadleaf lupine, which blankets open slopes and meadows. This gorgeous flower is native to the West Coast and can be found in mountainous regions from British Columbia down to Baja California, and in certain areas in Utah, Nevada and New Mexico.
Scarlet paintbrush
Castilleja miniata
Other names: common red paintbrush, giant red Indian paintbrush, slender paintbrush, meadow paintbrush.
Bloom: May-September
Height: 1-3 feet
Color: red, orange, yellow
These red flowers feature hints of yellow and orange on the petals’ tips, hence the name “paintbrush!” While there are many kinds of paintbrushes in the region, one can distinguish this particular species by the pointed leaves, as most other paintbrush species feature lobed leaves.
Scarlet paintbrushes are most commonly found in sunny meadows and on the edges of forests where there is a decent water supply.
Subalpine daisy
Erigeron peregrinus
Other names: wandering daisy, coastal fleabane, mountain daisy
Bloom: July-August
Height: 8-28 inches
Color: white, pink, yellow, purple, blue
The gentle, pastel colors of this subalpine daisy cover meadows and mountainsides from mid- to late summer. These daisies grow in clumps and can have multiple flowers growing from a single stem. One can distinguish them from the similar alpine aster by the daisy’s layered petals and gentler color.
Spreading phlox
Phlox diffusa
Other names: mat phlox
Bloom: May-August
Height: 2-8 inches
Color: white, purple, pink
The spreading phlox grows in mats which, when in bloom, are covered densely in small 5-petal flowers. The small branchlets grow leaves that are pointy but not sharp. A small flower grows at the end of each individual branchlet, distinguishing the plant from the similar hood phlox, which has multiple flowers at the end of each branchlet.
Red columbine
Aquilegia formosa
Other names: sitka columbine, western columbine, crimson columbine, scarlet columbine
Bloom: May-August
Height: 1-3 feet
Color: red, yellow
This delicate flower grows at the end of a tall, thin stem that can grow up to three feet off the ground. The flower itself nods down from the stem, making it look like it’s facing back toward the ground. Hummingbirds and butterflies are attracted to this flower’s bright colors and pollen-heavy stamen.
Foxglove
Digitalis purpurea
Other names: lady’s glove, common foxglove, fairy bells
Bloom: May-August
Height: 2-6 feet
Color: pink, white, purple
This towering flower is native to Europe, but has also been naturalized in North American coastal regions. It can usually be found along roads and parking lots, as well as in meadows and along popular trails. It’s appearance in nature can be attributed to human activity, and although it’s a beautiful flower to look at, it’s sometimes considered an invasive species.
Whether you’re on a multi-day backpacking trip or just a jaunt through a nearby park, you’re bound to come across some wildflowers on your journey. You’ll start to see a few appear more often than most, and sometimes you might find a rare flower that’s usually hiding right in plain sight!
Learning about wildflowers in Washington is a great way to interact with nature in a new way and appreciate the landscape around us that we so often just take for granted! If you live in our luxury apartments in Seattle, then these wildflowers are just minutes away from your doorstep in the mountains of the PNW!
Enjoy!
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All photos courtesy Colleen Ford
Colleen Ford is a South African who now lives on Oahu in Hawai'i. She loves to travel, camp, spearfish and hike. She's also part of a super cool canoe club and is pretty decent at it. Colleen enjoys Star Wars and also not being cold ever.
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