Wildflower Hike

The weather has been horrendous for viewing wildflowers and as I write this morning the snow is heavy on the branches of the trees.  Between travel and weather I haven't had a good hike on the mountain in nearly two weeks. but things are looking up and as soon as the warmth returns we should have a spectacular wildflower season.

That brings up a great opportunity. Lakewood Open Space will be hosting wildflower hikes next Saturday morning--that's May 16th at 10:00 at the Florida trailhead off Alameda. If you'd like to pre-register for the hike, go to lakewood.org/bclp and click on "Program and Event Calendar" on the left side. You don't have to pre-register, but that will assure you of a spot and will help us plan.

Locoweed (Oxytropis lambertii)

I did get on the short trail segment between the Florida and Utah parking areas during a break in the rains and spotted at least 25 different wildflowers. The Penstemons and Locoweeds are really coming out now, but some of the early flowers are still blooming, a bit confused by the weather. That means you'll still see Golden Banner and Yellow Violets along the trail.

I'll hope to get out when the trails dry on Tuesday or Wednesday and give you an update.

Prairie Penstemon (Penstemon secundiflorus)

Fragrant Blooms

The moisture the last two weeks, combined with some travels has made it tough to get out on the mountain, but there's a real treat for you if you do make it out now.  

Three varieties of flowering trees are in bloom on the mountain--Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), Wild Plum (Prunus americana), and Hawthorne (Crataegus erythropoda). They're full of white blossoms and make the best display of the year for sheer number of flowers.

All three are in the rose family so the individual blossoms look similar. Roses have five petals and many stamens in their native form (including the Wild Rose). Chokecherries have flowers arranged on a stalk (called a spike). Hawthorns have thorns. Of course you can tell them apart later in the year as the fruits ripen, too.

Chokecherry blossom

For the last couple weeks the Wild Plum trees (Prunus americana) have been blooming. If you pass them in full bloom, you'll be able to smell their sweet scent before you get to them. Take advantage of a great weekend and stop to smell the flowers!

An early Welcome to Springtime

Welcome back to Springtime!  After a warm March, we're seeing wildflowers blooming earlier than ever on Green Mountain. We actually had a decent amount of winter moisture so that may be contributing to the early wildflower show. Normally at the first of April we're just getting started, but there are about 10 species of wildflowers that are blooming already.

Several members of the Pea family are out--Early Purple Vetch (Astragalus shortianus) and Ground Plum (Astragalus crassicarpus). Yellow Violets (Viola nuttallii) and Golden Banner (Thermopsis rhombifolia) cover the hillsides in many areas on the south side.

One of the most spectacular flowers on the mountain is the Mountain Ball Cactus (Pediocactus simpsonii). These small round cactus develop bright pink flowers early in the season and usually only for a couple weeks. There are several blooming on the south side of the mountain. I've never seen them near the parking lots at Florida or Utah, but head up the trails from there (esp Utah) and you'll find them at about 2/3 of the way to the top. There is a nice little cactus garden at one of the switchbacks, and you'll be pleased with the flowers you find!

Mountain Ball Cactus

This is a picture I've used before, but there are some great photo opps for you up the trail!

Aspens at their Peak

If you have the chance to get up to the High Country this weekend or next you'll see one of the best displays of Aspens in years.  The wet summer has stretched our wildflower season a bit but it's made the aspens healthy and they're showing their gratitude now.

If you look at a hillside of aspens you'll notice that they aren't always the same color.  There will be large patches of gold aspens, but you'll see areas where all the trees are red and other areas where they haven't started turning yet.

Aspens are trees that grow primarily from the spreading of their root system.  If you have any in your yard you may notice lots of little ones coming up around it.  These arise not from seeds, but from the roots.  This process creates large "forests" that are really all one organism.  Although we've just started to understand this cloning process, it appears that aspens form some of the largest organisms
in the world with the largest in Utah, and second largest in Colorado on Kebler Pass.

It's hard to tell exactly where one starts and the next begins, but when you see the big patches of color on the mountainside, salute the largest plants in the state!

Patches of different-colored Aspens cover the hillside

The end of a confusing summer

What better way to sum up the last half of Summer, but this photo from last week.  Here we are in early September, and a Mountain Ash not only has its bright orange berries, but is blooming again.  Throw on top of that a dusting of snow and you get the picture!  Not only is this Mountain Ash blooming, but we have flowers on a Forsythia, which normally is one of the first shrubs to bloom in the Spring.

Our summer rains have really confused the locals, but it's been great for soil moisture and should make for a great Spring wildflower season.  Many of the years with poorer showings are preceded by dry summers and windy dry winters.  What little snow we did get was blown away or melted quickly without really contributing much to the soil.  The soil is very thin on Green Mountain, so it takes a certain tough species to thrive.  Often you'll find natives growing next to rocks.  The heat they absorb probably helps them get going in the Spring, but also the moisture is funneled down to the roots.

Soil Profile on Green Mountain

In the photo above you can see how the top few inches of soil is darker, enriched by decaying plants.  The soil is still rocky, but there's plenty of room for roots tho thrive.  A soil like this can support many grasses and wildflowers.  If you're familiar with the mountain, though, you know that as you hike the trails you'll come across areas that are all cobbles.  This is an old river channel (more about that another time) that left all its gravel in place.  The soils in these areas is much thinner and it takes specialized plants to colonize it.

Fall is indeed upon us, despite the calendar. Sunday looks like a beautiful Indian Summer day, so I'm planning to get out on the trails and enjoy it!  The rabbitbrush is in full bloom, brightening the hillsides, and for another few weeks (hopefully) we can put off the colder weather!

Sage Season

One of the most easily recognized plants in Colorado is Sagebrush.  The one we always think of is called Big Sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata).  It has a gray or bluish green cast to it's leaves and a strong odor.  When you burn it, it smells like incense.  It covers miles of open prairie and mountain hillsides in the state, but it doesn't live on Green Mountain.  There may be a few hiding out somewhere, but I haven't found them yet.  

We do have several varieties of sage that keep some color in the hills as all the grass turns to brown.  They're some of the first plants to "green" up in the Spring (some aren't very green) and they keep their color until late Fall. 

They're all flowering now, but it's hard to tell because the flowers are so inconspicuous.  They are about ⅛" across and usually are yellow or white--nothing showy!  

Prairie Sage

Fringed Sage 

 The first two are a grayish green, and look pretty similar until you get close.  Prairie Sage (Artemesia ludoviciana) will grow to over 2' tall.  It has long thin leaves that are a bit hairy if you rub them.  It's cousin is Fringed Sage (Artemesia frigida).  Although the color is about the same, if you check out the leaves, they are very finely divided and look much different than the wider, flat leaves of the Prairie Sage.

False Tarragon

The third sage has a bright green color and can grow up to 4' tall.  Along with many other late Summer bloomers, it doesn't look like much.  The small blossoms are covering g the plants this weekend, and after they bloom they get a really unusual seed pod.  Because they are so inconspicuous, the seeds make it easy to tell False Tarragon.  Of course because it's called FALSE Tarragon, you've probably already figured out that it doesn't have any scent, so you can't replenish your herb jar!

False Tarragon Seed pod

Going to seed

I've been gone for a week--probably a good time of year for that since things don't change much for the wildflower world in the middle of summer.  We've had some decent monsoon rains judging by the rain gauge, and it's kept things from getting too dried out.

But time marches on and we're in the middle of summer.  That means that all the Spring flowers have already gone to seed and lots of the summer flowers are making their seeds, too.  

I've talked about the Aster family and it's composite flowers, but once the flowering ends many of them turn into puffballs like the familiar dandelion seeds.  One thing I didn't quite figured out till i started pulling flowers apart was how they turned into puffballs.  The little umbrellas that carry the seeds on the wind are called pap pus.  When the flower is first forming, they are present, but in the middle of the blossom, all tucked away.  In the photo below I've pulled a few out on the left side. You can see how the individual flowers all extend down so that the seeds are all formed side by side.  As the flower withers, the petals fall away and the pap pus puffs out.  When the wind comes along, they're ready for another invasion of your lawn.  Although you may not like it for dandelions, it spreads seeds very effectively for lots of other native asters, too.

The pea family is another one that makes some interesting seeds.  The Groundplum Milkvetch that we saw earlier in the year gets its name from its seeds, which, as you can see below, look like some kind of weird fruit laying on the ground.  

Groundplum Milkvetch seeds (Astragalus crassicarpus)

On the other hand, Lupine are much more like the typical peas, and grow fuzzy pea pods as the flowers fade.  It's easy to find these since the Lupine are still blooming, so look for a few purple flowers.

Lupine seed pods (Lupinus argeteus)