Like many of you around the world, we are “sheltering”, but occasionally stray beyond our home, keeping our distance of course, for inspiration, some fresh air, and some sanity. So on March 22 we ventured about 2 hours north of us to the south Yuba River and a popular trail along the river, the Buttermilk Bend trail. It had been recommended in a recent issue of the Mountain Democrat by an outdoor columnist, Mary West.

We took a picnic, had a great walk on the upper trail amidst the wonderful outdoors, great weather, and stunning wildflowers. In addition to the obvious California poppies and lupine: fringepod, toyon ablaze with its red berries, redbud in full color, red maids, blue dick, globe lily, wally basket, and many others.

Some of the poppy scenes were breathtaking. You will see my husband Don capturing the best views of the wildflowers with the trail and river as a back-drop. While the lupine wasn’t as plentiful, there were numerous spots where the poppy and lupine painted a very colorful canvas.

On this next picture, look closely at the tall stems. They are fringepod, and develop small round seed pods with miniature windows on the outside, that resemble the points of a clock. Fringepod belongs to the mustard family, the pods have an unpleasant mustard flavor, nature’s way to keep away munching animals.

On our hike the blue dick was in bloom attracting dozens of these black butterflies. We did the usual google search to identify the butterfly and think it is the pipevine swallowtail. If there are any experts out there that can verify or provide the correct identification, send us a comment below.

Lastly a word to all of us. COVID-19 has cancelled vacations and travel, isolated us, damaged local business, and threatened our health. The future is uncertain. But together, and with our flowers, we will get through this, and if we are together, we will emerge stronger. We still have numerous ways to connect with family and friends from a distance. Reach out! A note to someone will brighten their day, and yours. If you run out of things to say, send them a picture from your garden. That’s actually a good idea, maybe for my next blog!