Ash Creek Images
Photographs of the West by Doug Gorsline
Photo of Camas and Lupine Blooming in a Bottomland near Camas, Washington.
Around Camas, Washington, grows a spectacular deep blue lupine that reputedly was one of the parent plants of the Russell hybrid lupines, the popular garden lupine. Tucked among the taller lupines in this picture are blossoms of common camas (Camassia quamash), the namesake of the city of Camas.
During the Ice Age, the Bretz floods carved channels through the plains north and west of Camas. The low areas that were created were perfect sites for the moisture-loving Camas; very wet in the winter, and well-drained and dry in the summer.
About 10 years ago I rescued about a dozen camas bulbs from a roadside ditch that was about to be sprayed with herbicide. I planted them in my home garden and they have done extremely well, reseeding themselves and multiplying into hundreds of bulbs. Camas can also be found at native plant nurseries, and in the fall edition of some mail-order bulb catalogs.
I also rescued some of the above lupines from a Clark County, Washington, construction site. The lupine proved to be less adaptable to my garden conditions. They seemed to do well at first, but they gradually died out. The similar Russell lupines come in a variety of colors and are widely used in both commercial and residential landscapes.
