While trilliums, Dutchman’s breeches and jack-in-the-pulpits will soon command a relatively brief center stage appearance in Leelanau’s wild places, there’s a much rarer and lasting bloom that will take but a short walk to admire.
It’s the flowering performance of the Michigan monkey flower, which is described as being the state’s “(arguably) coolest flower” in a 2025 Leelanau Conservancy publication.
That report was protective in terms of providing the exact locations of flower bunches being monitored in the Hatlem Creek watershed, which is understandable. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website states that only 23 Michigan monkey flower colonies have been identified, with all of them located in the northwestern corner of the Lower Peninsula. It’s the only plant species endemic only to Michigan.
