Peak Wildflower season in the High Alpine environment is probably about a month away, but wild flowers at lower heights in the high country popping in the middle of lush green meadows and Aspen Trees Aglow with brilliant chartreuse leaves.
Thanks to above-average Snowpack and generous spring rain in the northern mountains, hills are lush at 8,000 to 9,500 feet high.
“Here in Eagle County it looks incredibly green,” said Emily Griffoul, nature conservation scientist at the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in VailThe highest botanical garden in North America at 8,200 feet. “Things are in bloom, it is popping. It’s so good now. Things are so green, so fast. All our trembling Aspen are out – really beautiful, really green – and many flowers come up. It’s pretty exciting.”
In Summit County reports Wildflower expert Pat Taylor that she saw ‘beautiful’ flowers during a walk in Acorn Creek north of Silverthorne, adding that hills above Silverthorne have turned yellow with Arrostaf’s balsam root.
“I think the flowers are about a week early,” Taylor said. “I think it’s because of all the rains we have had.”
Griffoul noted that what Alpine-me-not-not and Pygmy Bloem Rock Jasmine bloom during a recent walk on Loveland Pass, but some snow is still covered high. The same applies to the Vail Pass. The Alpine Zone starts at around 11,000 feet.
“I would probably walk lower now,” said Griffoul. ‘Things around Minturn look so greenSo lush, and there are a lot of wild flowers. I am walking in the Eagles Nest Wilderness and that is really beautiful. I would say it will be super in the Alpine in a month. I would say that mid -July to the end of July will be peak for the Alpine. ‘
Taylor agreed.
“I would say you don’t go to Loveland Pass and expect to find flowers,” said Taylor. “That may be at the end of the month, but that can push it. I would wait until mid -July.”
How good the peak is from now on a month for wild flower walks at great heights is difficult to predict. Until now, weather conditions were generally favorable.
“We had more Snowpack than normal, which is great, great for water in the west,” said Griffoul. “But how much that that actually translates into having a real peak bloomer is a bit harder to predict, because it also depends on precipitation in our monsoon season. If we don’t have that, it will really affect whether things are blooming and how long the season will last.
“As long as we retain the precipitation pattern that we currently have,” she added, “while that Snowpack melts, and as long as it doesn’t dry out too quickly, we have the potential for a really great wildlow season.”
In the meantime, things are great under the Alpine increases.
“It has already been a really productive wild flower season in the sub-alpine zone,” said Maggie Gaddis, executive director of the Colorado Native Plant Society“So people have to go there.”
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