by John Dowd
“Education by observation,” said Pamela Priem when talking about how she learned so much about her bitterroots. Every year, Priem reaches out to a list of contacts, announcing when the bitterroot flowers are blooming. This year, hers are doing so early. The western slope of Priem’s property is home to hundreds of bitterroot plants, and when in bloom they create quite a spectacle. “They are just so beautiful. It’s like no other flower and they are rather mysterious,” added Priem.
Having lived on the property for over two decades, on an eastside road aptly named Bitterroot Drive, Priem has, the entire time, been fascinated with the little flowers, which only bloom once a year in the spring. She has come away from watching the flowers with several observations that she loves to share with visitors. In a fenced off area, next to her horses, is an area she calls her “Bitterroot Corral.” When walking through, she explains that there are more than a couple varieties of bitterroot flower, and within those groups there are also what she calls “minors” and “majors.” With these names she refers to smaller and larger sized flowers. The bitterroots also come in a plethora of color combinations from the rare all-white and yellow flowers, to the nearly red and hot pink kinds. She also talks about how finicky the flowers can be, opening only when the sun is shining and for only a few weeks out of the year. After that, the bitterroots disappear until the next year.
“They’ve got their own mind about what they are going to do whenever,” said Priem. With the love of the flowers, Priem is doing her best to preserve them. This preservation also often means she is at war with the weeds to keep the space open and protected for the bitterroots.
Part of her love for the historic bitterroots comes from a love for the historic American West. As soon as she moved in and heard about the entangled history of the flower with native peoples, she was immediately fascinated by them. Over her life, since the age of two, Priem has had a fascination with history and cowboys. When she lived in Golden, Colorado, she was involved with a number of museums and historical societies. These included the Buffalo Bill Museum in Graves, the Clear Creek History Park and the Astor House Museum. Through her interest in museums she became enamored with living history. She has been found on occasion to play the part of Calamity Jane, the famous and infamous female gunslinger and frontiers person. She participated in several events as Jane, including being invited onto the British Airways inaugural Denver to London flight, where she and a couple others traipsed around the old country while sometimes dressed in period attire.
She maintains her love of history, collecting antiques and being involved in local museums. Priem says, “Too many things are disappearing,” and pressed the importance of preserving things “because they don’t make anymore of it.”