CAT'S CLAW

Mrs. Fernwood lives just down the lane from Mrs. Trowbridge. She grows wild flowers and herbs in her garden, then sells them to the market in Huckleberry Hollow. On her way into the village she often stops by Mrs. T's cottage to give her a bag of Cat's Claw, which helps grandma's arthritis. I decided to post a detail from this journal page so that you could get a better look at her brush work.

The flowers growing in Mrs. Fernwood's garden include Douglas Spirea, Foxglove, and Olympic Rockmat. The Rockmat are the little white flowers growing in the window box to the right of the door. The Olympic Rockmat are endemic to the Olympic Mountains, found nowhere else on earth. I saw my first Rockmat clinging to life on the summit of Mount Townsend.

All of the flowers that you see in Mrs. Fernwood's garden can be found in the Olympic Rain Forest, except for many of the herbs that she grew, some of which were native to other areas. Can you find the Cat's Claw growing in her garden? The answer is on the home page of my web site: www.bronsmith.com

Mrs. Trowbridge would spend several days at a time in the high meadows sketching wild flowers in her journal. This is a closeup that she sketched of the Olympic Rockmat. As you can see, there are not one, but many flowers growing in a dense conical cluster.

I photographed this excellent example of the Olympic Rockmat on Lillian Ridge in the Olympic Mountains. It grows in rocky areas near summits. It's always a thrill to come upon a plant such as this knowing how rare it is.