Zion Wildflowers April 2022 - East Rim Wanderings

East Rim Trail near East Entrance

April 2022 Flowerwalks

Last year was very very dry. Last year's condition has a lot to do with how this year's bloom will be, in addition to spring temperatures and precip.

When I started studying Zion Wildflowers, I wanted to write a book that would say what blooms where and when... how incredibly naive! I also thought there were only maybe 200 species of flowers in The Park... ha ha ha ha ha. Joke's on me.

Anyway, the East Entrance is not far from my house, so it is a favorite evening hike, and I need to hike. My right arm is in a sling, after re-attachment of my distal bicep tendon so I need to do something to keep from going nuts. Studying the East Rim trail near the East Entrance seemed like a good place to start.

(Most pictures taken with my phone, left hand only. As time progressed, I could also use my right hand, AND my technique of phone close-ups improved a lot.)

Thanks to Andrew Zharkikh and Darrin Gobble for assistance with species identification. Met Darrin out there on the evening of April 26th and he showed me a few things...

April 21, 2022

Due to the dryness, I was not expecting much, and that is what I got. A brief visit on my way home from Springdale, I only picked up on a few blooms on a 20 minute walk...

(Astragalus)

(Boechera plant and flower)

Andrey indicated that examining the calyx hairs on the Astragalus was required to ID the species... so I had to go back...

April 23, 2022

Well, actually, I went back because I needed a longer walk to look for more stuff. I think it rained on the 22nd. But there was a lot more out, a LOT, expecially since I walked up the 2.3 miles to the Jolley Gulch overlook.

(Oreocarya), (Lathyrus), (Senecio), (Erysimum capitatum - Western Wallflower), Lots of Phlox out... this one Phlox jonesii - Zion Phlox, (Delphinium nuttallianum - Nuttall's delphinium) - picture from a few days later...; (Zion Draba), (Lotus plebeius)

April 26, 2022

Went back in the evening with my friend Larry to measure the petal lengths of the Phlox to differentiate between the jonesii and the austromontana. Which we did. The bigger white ones - jonesii. The smaller pink ones - austromontana. And get a better pic of the Abronia fragrans... ran into Darrin out there. He had seen another 'fat-petal' phlox further up the trail. We hot-footed it up the trail but it got dark before we found them. Turning around, we discovered a new phlox flower had popped out with the setting sun - the Evening Snow... a night-flower, closed and barely visible during the day.

(Evening Snow), (Abronia Fragrans), (Utah Serviceberry), (Phlox Austromontana)