Some unusual wildflowers to look for

Now that the summer heat has started some of the more interesting flowers are showing up on Green Mountain.  We've been able to plant a couple of them in our garden, but wildflowers are notoriously difficult to get started.  For all the seeds they put out there aren't that many plants, and it seems lots of them like to find nooks between rocks or right up against the sidewalk when they do sprout.

The first one we'll look at is Prairie Coneflower (Ratibida columnifera).  It's fairly common on the mountain and can be found in nurseries.  It's known as Mexican Hat in garden shops.  It's in the aster family so it has the bright yellow ray flowers (which look like individual petals) around the outside.and a tall cone of disk flowers in the middle.  They may have some dark red mixed in with the yellow, but most of the natives are only gold.

Prairie Coneflower

Another summer favorite is Purple Prairie Clover (Dalea purpurea).  It has a similar form to the Coneflower with the long tall cone of ray flowers, but this one's not an aster, but is part of the pea family. Ringing the cone are a row of tiny purple flowers.  The first picture shows the whole plant with some golden asters mixed in.  The second is a closeup showing all the individual flowers with their yellow pollen-bearing anthers.  There is also a White Prairie Clover (Dalea candida), which is blooming in abundance in a few areas on the mountain.

Purple Prairie Clover with Golden Asters

Purple Prairie Clover closeup

While I was running on the Summit Loop Trail Saturday I found another flower that's unusual for Green Mountain.  This one is Miners Candle (Oreocarya virgata).  It's fairly common in the mountains, but I've only seen it on GM a couple times.  It's in the Borage family which means it has lots of hairs all over the stems.  If you brush against it your arms or legs against it you might feel the itch that come from the hairs.

We'll be heading to Crested Butte for a few days over the 4th.  Should be some great wildflowers up there so I may post a few pictures from up there next weekend.  Enjoy the holiday!

Some great summer flowers

Over the last week some of the really interesting summer flowers have started showing up.  The Mariposa Lilies (Calochortus gunnisonii) are all over the mountain.  They look good from a distance, but looking inside them is like looking in one of those sugar Easter eggs with a whole new world inside the calyx.  Lilies always have each flower part in 3's and you can easily see the three petals and six anthers the male, pollen bearing part) when you look inside.  The flower opens up to welcome pollinators and you there's lots of pollen to go around!

Mariposa Lily

The Prickly Poppies (Argemne polyanthemos) are just starting to open up, but I've seen them in several spots on both the north and south side along the trails.  Like the poppies in your garden the petals unfold from the bud into a papery white blossom that ripples in the wind.  Inside the petals are a bunch of bright yellow anthers (thus poly (many) anthemos (anthers) in the name.)  The pistil, or female part of the flower is the bright red button in the middle.

Prickly Poppy

One last white flower that is unusual, but doing pretty well this year is a White Larkspur (Delphinium carolinianum).  Some years there may only be a couple on the mountain, but they can be found in several places this year, including right above the Utah Ave parking lot.  The more common Larkspur is a small purple one that blooms very early.  This one is tall (up to 24" on GM) very pale purple to white, and has purple spots on the flower.  It's pretty distinctive with a spur coming out the back of the flower.  Look for it!

White Larkspur

Out on the Plains

The last three weeks I've had the opportunity to take a Native Plant Masters class at the Plains Conservation Center in Aurora.  This is a great facility way out east near E-470 and Hampden, but I wanted to compare what was in bloom out there with what we see on Green Mountain.  As I expected a lot of the flowers were the same although there were a couple that we don't see here.  Although it's pretty dry, there are a couple streams that provide some contrast, and lots of raptors soaring.  One flower that really seems to represent the plains is Sand Verbena (Abronia fragrans).  Attractive as it spreads across the dry dirt, it has a sweet fragrance to attract pollinators.

Sand Verbena

The other thing I found fascinated I touched on last time.  When we showed up for our first class on June 3, the whole area was bright yellow with Wallflower (Erysimus  asperum).  We were told that usually the Wallflowers are scattered around, like they are on Green Mountain, but the late snows in April apparently were just right to germinate all those Wallflower seeds just waiting for their chance.

Yellow Wallflowers cover the ground at the Plains Conservation Center

Like the Jeffco and Lakewood Open Space Parks the Plains Conservation Center has some good programs, and I'd recommend checking it out if you're on the east edge of town.

Summer Arrives

A couple weeks of hot weather and all of a sudden the Spring flowers are giving way to the Summer blooms.  Penstemon are still looking good although the Blue Mist are showing signs of the heat.  

Summer brings flowers with lots of yellow.  The Bush Sunflower (Helianthus pumilis) and Golden Aster (Heterotheca villosa) are all over.  The Common Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) isn't out yet that I've seen and usually we don't have as many as the Bush Sunflower except along roadsides.  It's easy to tell them apart because the Common Sunflower has a brown center.  One other Sunflower\-like late Spring flower is the Blanketflower (Gallardia aristata).  It's the most colorful of the bunch with a bright red center.

Common Sunflower

Bush Sunflower

Blanketflower

Another interesting little flower is the Sulfurflower (Eriogonum umbellatum) .  This is a kind of buckwheat and has flowers in an umbel (like an umbrella) and all the leaves are at the base.  These flowers will last for a month or so and another, larger, relative, James Buckwheat will take over as the Sulfurflowers fade.

One of the things I find interesting about tracking when things bloom is that some years a particular wildflower will be abundant, but the next year there will only be a few.  A couple years ago Yellow Sweet Clover (Melolitus officinale) covered the mountain.  I thought they would take over and choke out lots of the natives, but the next year and, ever since, they've been scattered around but nowhere near the profusion of 2009.

June's busting out all over!

What a great weekend...I counted 52 wildflowers that I actually saw blooming.  There are a few others that hide in various spots I didn't get to this weekend that are still out.  Let me know if there's something interesting you've seen.

The Penstemons are some of the showiest blossoms now.  The Blue Mist Penstemon (Penstemon virens) gives an iridescent blue while the Orchid Beard Tougue (Penstemon secundiflorus) stands taller with bigger flowers.  They'll be joined soon by the Tall Penstemon (Penstemon virgatus asa-grayi), which is also a bright blue.  

Orchid Beard Tongue

Tall Penstemon

Blue Mist Penstemon

 One other bright magenta flower that looks kind of like a Penstemon is Locoweed (Oxytropis lambertii).  It has flowers on stalks like the Penstemons but the leaves and flower structure show it's a member of the pea family.

Colorado Locoweed

Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja integra) has come out in the last couple weeks, too.  It's one of the easiest wildflowers to recognize with it's bright orange to red sepals.  No, those aren't petals--the actual flower is a small green tube that sticks out of the bright orange sepals.  If you pull one out and suck on the end you'll get a small taste of nectar if the bees haven't beaten you to it!

Indian Paintbrush--flowers are green spikes at top

One of the flowers that really brightens some hillsides right now is Groundsel (I won't give it a species name since they're confusing!)  These bright yellow flowers are all over on some of the northern slopes of the mountain.  This is one of the best displays of Groundsel in a couple years.

One more interesting little flower I mentioned the other day is the Meadow Death Camas (Anticlea virescens).  These little lilies (usually about 12") call for some "belly botany" so you can get down to their level and see the beautiful details in this miniature.

Meadow Death Camas

Hope you were able to get out this weekend.  If not, the evenings are long, so get out and enjoy!

Great hikes for this weekend

We're nearing the peak of Green Mountain wild flowers this weekend, still a little behind normal, but there are some spectacular areas on the mountain right now.

If you're up for a longer hike, the northeast side of the Halo Trail is covered with wild flowers--cinquefoil, and Fendlers Groundsel give a yellow backdrop while penstemon a and locoweed add blue and purple. There are a few death camas, a tiny lily, as we'll as onions and white fleabane (a small white daisy-like flower) and purple daisies.

If you just want a short hike, either east or west from the Utah parking area has lots of blooms and is great for a quick hike.

I'll post some photos when I get a chance, but wanted to update you on what's blooming!