On Sunday, July 19, 2020, we made a return trip to Little Shasta Meadows Botanical Area, near Martin’s Dairy, to see if Greene’s mariposa lily (Calochortus greenei) was blooming yet. We’d seen it in bud on our first outing there, on June 18, and had returned three times in the interim, each time hoping to catch it in bloom, each time disappointed. Finally, a whole month later, we found it in bloom!
Perhaps it was because we had our good-luck charm, Zane Walker, with us this this time. Zane is Shasta Chapter’s 2020 Frank Kosko Memorial Scholarship award winner, and he was able to join us in our hunt for this gorgeous CNPS List 1B.2 bloomer.
And to top off the day, we also found a beautiful, large patch of Bach’s downingia (Downingia bacigalupii) in the Little Shasta Meadows Botanical Area. A day well worth waiting for! -Terri & Jay Thesken
