Wildflower Spectacles

     This past June I was hiking in the Swiss Alps during the peak season of wildflowers. (See post on July 29.)  I could hardly grasp the beauty I was walking through.

On the trail from First to Schynige Platte, Switzerland

Wildflowers of many varieties flowed like ocean tides. At the highest elevations they were close to the ground but still carpeted the earth. Lower than that, but still high above the valleys, they grew knee-high. Some species I recognized, though they were different there—giant blue columbines? Yellow gentians? Some I identified with my Alpine flower book—Alpine rose, bladder campion. Others I enjoyed without calling them by name. As proud as I am of Siskiyou wildflowers, I thought I could never brag to the Swiss about wildflowers in the Siskiyous.

    But maybe I was wrong.

    This summer there has been a superbloom of wildflowers in the Siskiyous. Is it because, in the wake of the Slater fire, the flowers are loving the ashy soil? Or is it because of the late spring rain? Whatever caused this superbloom I would love to bring some Swiss hikers to the Siskiyous and go with them to Bolan Lake, for instance, or on many of the trails I love. The wildflowers have been stupendous.

Me on the way up Bolan Mt. in the Siskiyous    photo by Margaret Perrow

    The Siskiyou wildflowers are just as beautiful as the Alpine displays, but different. In the Alps, above tree line, the flowers carpet the hillsides. Everything is flowered. In the Siskiyous, they climb up rock walls, crowd together in small spaces, share space with trees and bushes. In the Alps the whole hillside is a flowing mass of various colors from the flowers alone; in the Siskiyous the flowers swirl in colors within outlines of rocks and trees, in small meadows and beside streams. 

On the trail to Oregon Caves, Siskiou Mountains

    There are 3000 plant species in Switzerland. The Siskiyous contain around 3500 vascular plant species of which 215 are found nowhere else in the world. One thousand of Switzerland's 3000 plant species are endangered, according to a sign in the Alpine Garden at Schynige Platte. One hundred and eleven are at risk of extinction, and 55 are already extinct. 

    The sign in the Alpine Garden goes on to say that "the large biodiversity is because of many different elevations, diverse climate conditions, geological diversity, and long periods of traditional and sustainable agricultural management (alpine farming)."     

    The great botanical biodiversity of the Siskiyous is the result of the east-west orientation of the range, which created stopping points for plants migrating north and south, and of climatic and geological influences from the desert on the east side and the ocean on the west, which created a variety of soils and conditions in which a wide variety of plants could find a home. There are also, of course, elevation changes in the Siskiyous, though maybe not as extreme as in the Alps, but still affecting the plant life. Agricultural practices play no part in the Siskiyous, except, maybe, forestry practices, which have generally been detrimental.

    The most astonishing difference between the Swiss Alps and the Siskiyou Mountains is the trees. The Alps don't support many trees, whereas 36 different species of conifers grow in the Klamath-Siskiyous, more than in any other temperate forest in the world.

    In the end, I think I would be proud to bring a Swiss botanical friend to my home. Like the Alps, the Klamath-Siskiyou mountains are a showcase of beautiful flowers. Unlike the Alps, they are also a showcase of beautiful trees.

    

On the Silver Fork trail in the Applegate (Siskiyou Mts)