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Douglasia montana is often the first native wildflower to bloom each spring on the Rocky Mountain Front. (c)Dave Hanna

Montana’s oddly warm and sunny winter is causing heartache for skiers, but it may be providing some delights for wildflower enthusiasts. Douglasia montana is often the first native wildflower to bloom each spring on Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front, normally in late March or early April. Last week, Dave Hanna – our Science and Stewardship Director on the Front -- observed two Douglasia plants in bloom in the foothills. He spotted the first on January 2nd! Quite an unusual occurrence - the plants may have been responding to the previous several weeks of warm weather in December.     

Douglasia montana is found in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Alberta. Sometimes called mountain Douglasia, mountain pink, or Rocky Mountain dwarf primrose, it is a small cushion plant that occurs on rocky, exposed ridges and slopes from lower elevations into the alpine.

You can read more about past observations of January blooming wildflowers in Montana, including a record of Douglasia blooming in western Montana in the then record-setting warmth of January 1934. Check out the Spring 2005 edition of Kelseya, the newsletter of the Montana Native Plant Society.