Adversity is wont to reveal genius, prosperity to hide it.

"Adversity is wont to reveal genius, prosperity to hide it."

Horace
Roman poet (65 - 8 B.C.E.)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, record-breaking drought and heat meant that the wildflowers at Mount Rainier were mostly finished blooming when we arrived during the last week of July. I've been featuring the wildflowers I DID find, which were blooming mostly in the marshy areas or along streams. However, the other place where I found them was in large flats of solid, crumbled pumice. It was quite amazing, really, to discover pockets of color thriving in what appeared to be simply fields of volcanic rock. My theory is that - given their environment, located in a region above treeline where frequent winds and moisture-draining soils are standard fare - the plants are ALREADY used to drought conditions and therefore did just fine with this year's added dryness and heat. In any case, it was amazing to find these flowers thriving in what appeared to be pure pumice!

Photos: (Top) Cliff Paintbrush; (Second) Pussypaws; (Third) Pasqueflower seedheads; (Bottom) Alpine Lupine. I found all of these flowers growing in pumice soils above treeline in Mount Rainier National Park, WA on July 28-29, 2015