Celebrating Wildflowers
Celebrating Wildflowers Hot Topics Carousel
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Plant of the Week: Graceful Trillium
Trillium plants produce no true leaves or stems above ground. Read more…
Pollinator of the Month: Orchid Bee
The orchid bee is an essential pollinator in tropical rainforests. Read more about the Orchid Bee…
Beauty of It All: Terrific Trilliums
Trilliums hold a special place in the hearts of naturalists, botanists, horticulturalists, and outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen worldwide. Read more about trilliums…
Ethnobotany…plants sustaining people
Ethnobotany is the study of how people of a particular culture and region make use of indigenous (native) plants. Read more about ethnobotany…
Explore Rare Plants on our National Forests and Grasslands
“Caring for the land and serving people”, the mission of the U.S. Forest Service, means caring for rare plants and their habitats, and helping people learn about these special plants on our national forests and grasslands. Read more about rare plants….
Forest Service Regions
The nine Forest Service regions are broad geographic areas, usually including several states, encompassing 155 National Forests and 20 National Grasslands. These lands include a vast treasure of diverse landscapes, ecosystems, fauna, and flora. Explore the wildflowers of the Forest Service's Regions….
Welcome!
Celebrating Wildflowers is dedicated to the enjoyment of the thousands of wildflowers growing on our national forests and grasslands, and to educating the public about the many values of native plants.
Enjoy the website and come back to visit often!
Celebrating Wildflowers News
Announcing the 2020 Monarch Conservation Webinar Series!
Posted January 23, 2020
Photo of a monarch butterfly sitting on a person's hand. License: CC0 Public Domain
MJV and NCTC are pleased to announce the lineup for our 2020 Monarch Conservation Webinar Series! The Monarch Joint Venture is partnering with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Conservation Training Center to put on another year full of informative and inspiring webinars on all things monarch.
Read more and check out the webinar titles and dates…
Thanksgiving Count Shows Western Monarchs Need Our Help More than Ever
Posted January 23, 2020
Closeup of adult monarch butterflies congregating on a branch. Photo by Denise Gibbs.
The results from this season's Xerces Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count are out! Fewer than 30,000 monarchs were counted — 29,418 to be exact — for the second year in a row, so the population remains at a critical level. For decades, monarchs in the West have been in decline because of loss of habitat, including destruction of their California overwintering sites and loss of both milkweed for caterpillars and flowering resources to fuel migration. They are also impacted by climate change and pesticide use.
Read more about western monarch butterfly populations…
Blog article about the population count for this winter…
“The People’s Tree” Lights up the Capitol
Posted December 19, 2019
The U.S. Army Brass Quintet performs in front of the adorned U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree. Photo by Tanya Flores, Office of Communications.
A special gift from the Carson National Forest has successfully completed its cross-country journey to Washington, D.C. Harvested on Nov. 6, 2019, the massive 60-foot blue spruce, known affectionately as the “People’s Tree,” traveled over 2,000 miles and stopped for celebrations in 25 communities before arriving at the U.S. Capitol in late November. Today, the tree stands on the West Front Lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building and is decorated with thousands of handcrafted ornaments made by school children from the state of New Mexico.
Read more about the "The People's Tree"…
Introducing “Real Time” Counts at a Few California Overwintering Sites
Posted November 14, 2019
Snapshot of the 2019 Real Time Western Monarch Count Data. Visit the Xerces' Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count home page for updates.
New this season: the Xerces Society is introducing "real time" counts at a few overwintering sites thanks to some great volunteers. There's a new graphic in the slider with counts from a few important overwintering sites. We'll be updating these counts regularly throughout the overwintering season so you can get a glimpse at how many monarchs are clustered.
Check out the homepage of Xerces' Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count…