A lavender wildflower. Does anyone recognize this flower? I took the picture in the Indian Valley of the Northern Sierra.
My forester/botanist office neighbor, Tom, knew it right away. So did Lisa, a FB friend. It is Spiraea douglasii or it’s common names are Douglas’ spiraea, hardhack steeplebush, steeplebush and rose spiraea. It’s a native of the western US and Canada and is commonly used a landscape plant. Who knew?
THE FORESTER ARTIST 
Nice image with beautiful flower! I love Lavender 🙂
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Thank you.
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I don’t know this one. I look forward to the mystery solved.
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Me too Linda!
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Do you have local Agriculture Extension Agents in the area? Maybe someone there could tell you.
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I think the botanist in the next door office may know it. I just haven’t asked yet.
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Nice to have a backup plan or in this case a next door office plan.
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Yes, and he came through. It is a Spiraea dougliasii, or steeple bush.
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… I’ll have to wait out on this one too!
More fluffy than our Lavender Tim 🙂
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I may have to dig out my plant keys.
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It’s a steeplebush or Spiraea douglasii.
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🙂
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Looks slightly like Filipendula rubra (Queen-of-the-prairie) but that’s only in the northeast area. I wish I knew more wildflowers but there are so many!
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I took a look and it is similar, so I looked for Filipendula in California. No luck. Hmmm…stumped.
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Darn…I hope one of your many readers will be able to come up with the ID.
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It’s a steeplebush, Spiraea douglasii.
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Yay! Thanks for letting me know!
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I’m late to the party, but I knew it was a spiraea of some sort. You’re in my hood now! I have to id these things on the fly for work.
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I’m sorry I should have let you know about this one, but I thought it was a wildflower only. I thought about you. You would have nailed it Ilex.
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So pretty Tim – now I see it is a spiraea I remember my mother used to have them in the garden where I grew up in the UK.
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Wow, and to think, I just thought it was some random wildflower.
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I know I know, it’s spirea! We have it here, it smalls wonderful and is usually covered with random black bugs. Tim, you know there are really no random wildflowers…
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You are so right Annerose. About the spiraea and the “no random wildflowers.” I stand corrected!
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What a lovely flower. We have a spirea here with a flat flowering head that is used as a landscaping plant. I wonder if they are related or just have a similar name. Unfortunately the variety the landscaper put in here is a “spreader”. It is getting too big and sending out root runners where I don’t want it to. It is in store for some drastic cutting back.
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I learned that this one has been used for landscaping too, but I’m not very familiar with it.
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