Lily Love

It was one of those mild summer days that left dew on the wildflowers and grass, a rarity in Colorado's dry climate. As I sat on my favorite rock gazing into the distance at the "Valley of Contentment," my focus turned to a nearby sprinkle of white in the still green meadow. I got up to investigate and found two beautiful Sego Lilies. I had never seen them in this area before and wondered if it was because of our wetter than normal summer. So I had to look them up and found that they are also called Mariposa Lilies and can come in a variety of colors. I am always astounded at the beauty I find in nature, growing totally untended. My garden flowers never seem to measure up to the delicate beauty of the wildflowers that spring up with no help at all in the extreme climate of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Nature is still the master gardener.

Lily Love
This flower photo of a delicate white wildflower, the Sego or Mariposa Lily, was found in the Northern Colorado Rocky Mountains.
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Etsy JulieMagersSoulen

Wild Rose

The wild rose found in Colorado's mountain woodlands has five pale pink petals. I also find it growing along the dusty road and often think of trying to transplant it to my perennial garden, where only the hardiest plants survive the cold and long winters. This delicate flower of the rose family is very tough. I have seen in growing up in the middle of the road only to be scraped off each winter by the snow plow and emerge in the spring unscathed, albeit a bit shorter. Maybe this year I'll try moving one to the good life of a watered garden and occasional weeding. Enjoy!

Wild Rose
A close up of a wild rose in petal pink with golden yellow stamens catches the light.
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Yellow Sweet Peas

The breeze gently stirs the fragrant wild bouquet of yellow pea creating the sound of sheets stirring in the night. I stoop to gather in the subtle perfume and feel the soft blue green leaves tickle my nose. A sudden urge envelopes me to simply lie down on the covered hillside and sink beneath the green blanket of blossoms. A lazy bee impossibly hovers nearby and adds his own splash of yellow to the melee. The moment continues and is forever part of me.

Sweet Peas
Wild yellow sweet peas, a common wildflower that grows on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, is found growing in a lush profusion of blue green leaves. This plant also goes by the names; Yellow Pea, False Lupine, and Buck Bean.
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Lovely Locoweed

I was on my morning walk with my two exuberant dogs. The air still had the chill of a Rocky Mountain morning but the sun was warm. As I rounded the bend in the dusty dirt road I saw the mound of white blossoms that we locals in the West know as locoweed. It is so pretty and also so poisonous. The variety that commonly grows near my home is usually white but can also be a pale lavender. It is dangerous to grazing animals and also very tasty to them. I ponder this apparent conundrum in nature as we continue to walk through the dappled shade of pines on the dusty road.

Lovely Loco
The delicate spires of white blossoms of the locoweed plant are lovely and common throughout the West.
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Locoweed Road
White locoweed grows in a beautiful clump near a country road in Colorado.

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Rocky Mountain Wildflowers of Colorado

Spring came late this year with our last large snow in the middle of May. As many of you remember, I was gone the last week of May on family business, and when we returned home everything was bursting with color and new growth. Summers are short in the Colorado Rockies and the spring plants were mingled with the summer blooms all in a rainbow of exploding color. Here are a couple of my favorites; the Pasque Flower and Cushion Cactus. Enjoy!

Pink Cushion Cactus Blossoms
A mound of hot pink blossoms adorns the top of a Cushion Cactus in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
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Pasque Flowers
Delicate lavender Pasque Flowers, also called Prairie Crocus, are the earliest of spring flowers in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
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