Sierra weather is fickle. It can be feast or famine. According to Lisa Berry, wildflower aficionado and Lake Tahoe Community College adjunct instructor,  in wildflower terms it can result in a distinct advantage. Berry has been leading wildflower hikes and studying the area’s wildflowers for almost a decade.

Berry will be talking about her findings and presenting a slideshow of her discoveries on September 30, 2016 at 7 p.m. in LTCC’s Aspen Room. The talk is free and open to the public.  Joining Lisa will be author and botanist Julie Caville.

According to Berry, wildflowers could be found throughout the Tahoe Basin this summer, despite the lack of winter snow and the ongoing drought in our state. “I saw and photographed some fabulous species this season, including some new ones for me, like Marsh and California Skullcap, Western Pasque Flower, Fringed Grass-of-Parnassus, and Pygmy Lewisia. Even though Desolation Wilderness, Carson Pass, and Monitor Pass didn’t get the snowpack they usually do, I was impressed by how many flowers were especially vivid, as if intent on making themselves seen,” says Berry.I found that there were other flowers that really enjoy the dry season like angelica, and wall flowers came up in abundance.”

For more information, please contact Lisa Berry by email at Berry@ltcc.edu.

Berry said what she likes most about her wildflower hiking class is helping students develop a sense of flowers that they didn’t have before.

“Flowers appeal to all the senses. They invite us to take a closer look at the environment around us.”

This free South Lake Tahoe event is sponsored by the Lake Tahoe Community College Library.