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)

630 degrees!

What a difference a week makes!  We've seen how quickly flowers start blooming, but when you get 7 days of 90 degrees (7 x 90 = 630, that is!) all the plants start to go into retreat.  Last week I mentioned how the top of the Hayden trail was full of color.  Well, this week things have really quieted down.  Although everything is still blooming, many of the plants don't have as many blooms and some of the color has faded.  Some cooler weather and rain would help.

As I was coming down the Hayden trail I did get one surprise.  On the side of the trail were several Nodding Onions with their purple blossoms nodding in the breeze.  We see Wild all over the mountain early in the year, but these tend to show up in the heat of summer.  The first time I saw them was after the big fire in 2008.  In an area of burned out Mountain Mahogany the Nodding Onions were sprouting, oblivious to the devastation that had just occurred, or maybe even helped by the heat.  The onions pictured below don't have as much color as the ones I saw the other day.

Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum)

When you're out on the mountain this week there are still lots of Purple and White Prairie Clover and Liatris (Gayfeather).  Also providing the gold color to the scene are the Bush and Common Sunflowers, Golden Asters and Curly-tip Gumweed.  Just starting to come out are Rabbitbrush, Goldeneye, and Klamathweed, more gold for the hills!

Gayfeather (Liatris punctata)

Let's hope for some rain and freshen up the mountain!

Non-native planting--Mistakes were made...

The other night we were driving home with the windows down and I caught a sweet smell of summer.  It only lasted for a minute before I realized it was Russian Olive.  Too late-- my nose was already plugging up.  I seem to fall for it every year!

Russian Olive is another of the invasive species we've introduced intentionally and now regret.  Although some birds like the olives, the trees are very dense (and thorny!) and crowd out native cottonwoods and willows.  In turn this influences native bird populations.  The last few years I've noticed lots more jays in the area--even eastern Blue Jays.  I don't know much about birds, but wonder what changes we've made to the environment to encourage them.  Although these trees were once sold in nurseries, they're now outlawed and we're encouraged to get rid of the trees.  Easier said than done!

Russian Olive (Elaegnus angustifolia)

A neighbor recommended I mention another non-native, and one that I really enjoy-- Chicory.  It's a weed, but the blue petals in the middle of summer add some needed color on these hot mornings.  Chicory starts blooming about the time flax dies out, and with similar colors it's almost an even trade!  You'll see it blooming in disturbed areas, especially along access roads into the Open Space.

Chicory is a native of Europe, but it's been cultivated in North America because it has edible greens and roots.  The roots are dried and ground to be used as a coffee substitute, and you can still find Chicory coffee as a specialty from New Orleans.  

Chicory (Elaegnus angustifolia)

Green Gentians and Mid-summer Color

I've spent the last two weeks in Crested Butte for the Wildflower Festival and the midsummer madness that is Wildflower Season.  While I was up there my tablet decided to quit so I wasn't able to blog.  /the Festival was great.  I lead two wildflower hikes relating the geology to the wildflowers, and a couple other Wildflower Identification hikes.  Any time I get to spend that much time hiking through the woods and meadows, you spot all sorts of interesting things.  

One of my favorite flowers up there, and one that we occasionally see on Green Mountain, is the Green Gentian or Monument Plant.  It's unlike any other gentian, which are usually small purple flowers that bloom in late summer.  This one grows to 6' tall and is covered with four-leafed green blossoms.In mountain meadows you find them blooming fairly commonly, but it's not an easy life for these big showy plants.  

Green Gentians are monocarpic, meaning they flower once and die.  But this flowering happens at the end of a long life, since at high altitudes, or even at our moderate elevation of 6000'+, it takes a long time for the plants to become big enough to flower.  For most of its life, the Green Gentian appears as a bunch of shiny leaves low to the ground.  When it finally has enough strength accumulated, it's bursts forth, producing a shower of seeds to start the cycle over again.  Researchers at the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab (RMBL), in Gothic, Colorado, have watched the same plants as they re-leaf every spring--for over 40 years!  It's thought that many Green Gentians live 60 years before blooming.  Talk about patience!

Green Gentian (Frasera speciosa) waiting patiently

Green Gentian finally blooming!

Now, back to Green Mountain!  After being gone a couple weeks I wasn't sure what the mountain would look like, but it seems the cool (compared to the last few years) summer has kept things looking great.  This year I'mm seeing lots of Purple Prairie Clover, one of my favorites.  When I first saw it several years ago, there was one small patch in a rocky soil in a protected area.  I thought it must be out of its normal range since there was only that small area.  But in the last few years it's spread and this year can be found in many locations.  One of the best is at the top of the John O. Hayden Trail as you contour near the radio tower.  On that stretch the pink Sticky Geraniums, Purple Prairie Clover, Prairie Coneflower and Bush Sunflowers are abundant.  Soon the Liatris (Gayfeather) will add more purple spikes to the landscape.

Purple Prairie Clover (Dalea purpurea) with Golden Asters