Slow Down And Smell The Flowers

The starting gun sounds. Wild cheering fills the air and feet begin to move. Within moments ribbons of colorful humanity will unroll down the streets of Spokane. It’s Bloomsday.

This 7 1/2-mile run has become a rite of spring in our community. And spring it is. Hillsides and homes along the route greet runners with bouquets of color, while trees unfold their canopies just in time to provide a little welcome shade.

For those of you who run at warp speed, much of this delightful flora will only be a blur of green, white and yellow. Mother Nature, however, understands. She knows you have a formidable challenge ahead of you that requires steady concentration.

But for the thousands of us who can take a moment to notice our surrounding - that is, other than backs, legs and shoes - here’s what you may see along the way.

The neighborhoods along Riverside and Main start us out with a fanfare of color. Lavish clumps of tulips - red, yellow, white, purple and pink - set the pace. Ornamental crabapples, cherries and pears dot the shaded avenues with soft pink and white scented blossoms. Most of these flowering trees have been in bloom for a week or so. Soon the delicate flower petals will break loose from their twigs. They’ll drift on a current of air eventually blanketing the ground with a soft coverlet of pink and white. But for Sunday, they should hold fast, providing a spot of color above the crowd.

Nestled among the evergreens and sometimes near the sidewalks are the flowering quince. These 4-foot, round shrubs are members of the rose family. They have sharp thorns. Running headlong into one of these fellows could be a painful experience. However, they’ve made it easy for us to spot them. They’re the bushes decked out in bright rose-colored blossoms.

As we pass into the more natural area, hundreds of white flowering bushes begin to appear. Some are tall, some are short, all are open and a little on the rangy side. These are the native serviceberry, also referred to as Juneberry, Saskatoon berry, or shadblow. Their abundant clusters of white blossoms are very fragrant. After their blossoms fade, dull red berries will form, eventually turning to a ripe black. Because most of the berries are wormy, we tend not to harvest them. However, Native Americans once mixed them with pounded meat to make pemmican. Bears love them.

The bright yellow sunflowers that blanket the hillside entering the SFCC campus and along the road down to the bridge are balsam root. These yellow flowers that stand above clumps of olive-green leaves were also once part of the Native American diet. They ate the rich oily seeds raw or in deer fat. Even the roots were eaten raw or roasted.

Mixed in among the grasses on the south side of the college is a smathering of yellow yarrow. This hardy plant isn’t too particular about soil or moisture. It is easily identified by its flat round cluster of bright yellow flowers sitting atop straight stems. The leaves near the ground are finely fringed. Yarrow is a lovely plant, often used in perennial gardens.

There is a bit of wild mustard growing up the east slope of Doomsday Hill. It, too, can be easily identified by its bright-yellow flowers clustered atop tall stems.

Grand old maples shade us as we head toward the finish line. Also along this leg we spot the light pink blossoms and burgundy leaves of the Cistena plums (bushes) and the thundercloud plums (trees). The sweet smell of lilacs would normally fill the air, but at this late date in the run, humidity coupled with mass humanity overshadows its aroma. Flowering cherries, apples, pears, quince, tulips and daffodils escort us to the finish line.

Once we’ve collected our prize shirt, we can drag our exhausted bodies onto the spacious lawns of Riverfront Park. There, under the canopy of a sycamore tree, we can relive our adventure, remembering that the flora we passed helped to make our experience more enjoyable.