Leighton Photography & Imaging

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  • A close up of one of the most beautiful of all of the Pacific Northwest's wild lupines. These bright blue high-elevation-loving members of the pea family range from the Rocky and Cascade Mountain Ranges then west to the Pacific Ocean in places where elevations are high enough to stay cool in summer.
    Broadleaf Lupine
  • Desert lupine (also known as arroyo lupine or Coulter's lupine) is found across most of Southern Arizona at low elevations under 3000'. This amazing member of the pea family has a cool adaptation to direct bees to the best flowers: once a new flower opens and a bee comes in contact with it while collecting the pollen, the yellow spot turns red, letting any pollinators know that that flower has already been visited. These lupines were found growing on the side of the road outside of Sells, AZ in Pima County.
    Desert Lupine
  • One of the great adaptations the silky lupine has evolved is to grow in places where the soil has a very low fertility. Its nitrogen-fixing ability not only allows it to grow in large colonies in the most arid of dry steppes, it actually improves soil quality allowing new species of plants to come in, take seed and grow.
    Silky Lupine
  • This beautiful native member of the pea family has an interesting story. Like all lupines, they have toxic properties, that vary from species to species. The silky lupine is highly toxic to sheep, and moderately toxic to cattle and horses. That said, bighorn sheep rely on it heavily as a food source, as do white-tailed deer, Columbia ground squirrels and other birds, mammals and insects. It seems that while it is toxic to imported domesticated non-native animals, it is completely safe and nutritious for native wildlife that has evolved alongside it.
    Silky Lupine
  • Common in many types of dry habitats in the western United States, silky lupine is a blooms in a variety of colors, usually blue to purple, they can sometimes be found in pink, yellow or creamy white. This large specimen was found in abundance in Central Washington's Cowiche Canyon.
    Silky Lupine
  • This invasive Eurasian species of the pea family is found across nearly all of North America, from Mexico to Northern Canada, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. This beautiful bloomer was found found growing in the Loess Hills region of Southwestern Iowa.
    Crown Vetch
  • Backlit silky lupine flowers in the later afternoon in Cowiche Canyon, just west of Yakima, WA. These flowers were quite a bit more purple than the nearby blue-flowered lupines, but they are all the same species.
    Silky Lupine
  • One of my favorite sagebrush-steppe native wildflowers, this silky lupine is growing straight and tall in the late afternoon, late springtime sunlight in Washington's Cowiche Canyon.
    Silky Lupine
  • With its expansive range, this crown vetch is an invasive species with some benefit. The thick tangle of roots make this attractive Eurasian import with its odd-pinnate leaves very useful in preventing land erosion, and is often used as an ornamental ground cover. This particular one was photographed on the edge of a steep hillside in Iowa's Waubonsie State Park.
    Crown Vetch
  • Rabbit-foot clover is an uncommon, small fluffy clover found in low-lying grasslands in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. These were photographed in a rocky field in Washington's Columbia River Gorge near Catherine Creek.
    Rabbit-foot Clover
  • Desert lupine (also known as arroyo lupine or Coulter's lupine) is found across most of Southern Arizona at low elevations under 3000'. This amazing member of the pea family has a cool adaptation to direct bees to the best flowers: once a new flower opens and a bee comes in contact with it while collecting the pollen, the yellow spot turns red, letting any pollinators know that that flower has already been visited. These lupines were found growing on the side of the road outside of Sells, AZ in Pima County.
    Desert Lupine
  • Just about to bloom! This beautiful lupine is only recognizable from the many other lupines that grow in the area by its silvery-green, fuzzy stems and leaves. When the flowers show themselves, the colors will range from a dark pink, soft lilac or a bright purple. Lots of variation in colors of the same species often make lupines very frustrating and difficult to identify. This one was growing in a small open patch next to Umtanum Creek in Kittitas County, WA.
    Silky Lupine
  • Desert lupine (also known as arroyo lupine or Coulter's lupine) is found across most of Southern Arizona at low elevations under 3000'. This amazing member of the pea family has a cool adaptation to direct bees to the best flowers: once a new flower opens and a bee comes in contact with it while collecting the pollen, the yellow spot turns red, letting any pollinators know that that flower has already been visited. These lupines were found growing on the side of the road outside of Sells, AZ in Pima County.
    Desert Lupine
  • Sometimes the beauty is in the details. This delicate and stunning red clover was photographed in a field full of wildflowers and bees on a late spring morning just south of Seattle, Washington. As an early European export for feeding animals, this member of the pea family is now found growing wild in nearly all parts of North America.
    Red Clover
  • Although not native to North America, this European native everlasting sweet pea is found all over North America, such as this one growing on the western side of Larch Mountain just outside of Portland Oregon.
    Everlasting Sweet Pea
  • Found along the lower slopes of the Cascades Mountains, this lupine is identified by leaf-shape and the noticealy reddish-brown stems where the flowers blossom.
    Streambank Lupine
  • Found in nearly all of the western states and provinces of North America, the silvery lupine is very tolerant of many conditions and can be found in a suprising number of different habitats. This one was photographed at a rather high elevation in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park.
    Silvery Lupine
  • The broadleaf lupine is one of my favorite wildflowers on Mount Rainier. They can be so numerous at the sub-alpine level that they can create a sea of blue mixed with spatters of other well-known wildflowers of other vibrant and contrasting colors. These were photographed on Mount Rainier's southern face close to the tree line.
    Broadleaf Lupine
  • Close-up detail of Lupinus sericeus, the silky lupine. Notice the fine, soft hairs on the back of the flowers - that's where it gets it's name. Sericeus is Latin for "silky".
    Silky Lupine
  • Woolly vetch (sometimes called winter vetch) is an important crop used in agriculture for fixing depleted soil nitrogen, and is often planted in fields to correct deficiencies resulting from extensive farming. Found in nearly all of North America, woolly vetch doubles as a tenacious weed that is sometimes hard to remove as vast numbers of seeds are released early which grow back the next season.
    Woolly Vetch
  • Lupine is one of North Americas most variable types of wildflowers, many species found in almost any kind of habitat that North America offers. These silvery lupines are blooming in Yellowstone National Park in Northwestern Wyoming. Very common in most of the western half of the continent in higher elevations, they are also very toxic to livestock.
    Silvery Lupine