{"id":33060,"date":"2023-07-06T12:10:23","date_gmt":"2023-07-06T18:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/its-looking-like-a-very-good-year-for-wildflowers-in-colorado-heres-why\/"},"modified":"2023-07-06T18:10:23","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T18:10:23","slug":"its-looking-like-a-very-good-year-for-wildflowers-in-colorado-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/its-looking-like-a-very-good-year-for-wildflowers-in-colorado-heres-why\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s looking like a very good year for wildflowers in Colorado. Here\u2019s why"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Wildflowers
Wildflowers bloom in Stevens Gulch below Grays and Torreys peaks along the Continental Divide in August 2022. (Hart Van Denburg\/CPR News file)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

How many wildflowers are there in Colorado? That\u2019s a question we got through Colorado Wonders.<\/p>\n

A lot, at this time of year. But it\u2019s a hard question to answer specifically, whether you\u2019re talking about all the different species or the individual blooms across the state. What we do know is that this season is shaping up to be especially good.<\/p>\n

Grace Johnson, a horticulturist with Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms in Littleton, said this year\u2019s conditions could make for some spectacular summer scenery.<\/p>\n

So what are those conditions?<\/p>\n

\u201cMoisture, as well as temperature, and then of course snowpack,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThe fact that we have such a great snowpack means it\u2019s going to melt slower, wildflowers will delay their bloom, and then they will have more moisture to kind of sustain a longer bloom time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right now is about the peak time for areas around the Front Range, like Green Mountain west of Lakewood, and in grasslands, like the Pawnee National Grassland northeast of Greeley.<\/p>\n

\"Wildflowers
Wildflowers bloom at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge in September 2021. (Hart Van Denburg\/CPR News file)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cAs you get higher and higher in elevation, you\u2019re looking more toward mid-July into August as probably the ideal time to see wildflowers,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

Crested Butte hosts its annual Wildflower Festival on July 7 through 16. And the Denver Botanic Gardens hosts its Lavender Festival at Chatfield Farms on July 15 and 16.<\/p>\n

And if you \u2013 like the young Coloradan who asked the question that got us curious about this topic \u2013 are keen on the color purple, look for Lupine, Tall Larkspur and Pedicularis groenlandica<\/em>, also known as the distinctive Elephant\u2019s Head.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the side, it truly does look like an elephant\u2019s head, with a trunk protruding upward and outward,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very iconic plant, I love seeing it out on trails.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about Colorado\u2019s wildflowers, Johnson recommended the book \u201cThe Flora of Colorado\u201d by Jennifer Ackerfield.<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Public Radio, visit cpr.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A
A Mariposa lily is seen on the Carbonate Creek Trail above Marble in July 2021. (Hart Van Denburg\/CPR News)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

the lookout for Elephant\u2019s Head, which it turns out isn\u2019t just something you\u2019ll find at the zoo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,976],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-33060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-outdoor-recreation"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33060"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=33060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}