Wildflowers of the Colorado Foothills in August

I get a little sad in August because I hate to see summer end. It has already snowed in the Rocky Mountains and I have heard we will have an early winter. I can see changes in the foothills - flowers are fading, the leaves of holly grape are turning red. It is still a beautiful, peaceful time to enjoy the great outdoors in Colorado and I expect to continue trail running well into September. (Unless it keeps raining on my trail running days.)

On August 8th, we ran at Mount Falcon Park near Morrison, Colorado. I spotted a little purple flower that was new to me so I stopped to take a picture. My friend Mary told me that it is a wild onion; specifically, it is a Nodding Onion. I have also been seeing a lot of Rocky Mountain Goldenrod along the trails.

Nodding Onion

Rocky Mountain Goldenrod

One of my late summer wildflower favorites is Gayfeather. Although I prefer to use common names for flowers, Mary calls Gayfeather by its scientific name, Liatris. I'm going to have to learn this flower's scientific name so I will know what Mary is talking about!

Gayfeather (Liatris Punctata)

The prettiest bunch of flowers I saw at Mount Falcon were bright yellow Yarrow flowers growing next to the picnic shelter, which is about three miles from the Morrison trailhead.

Yarrow

On August 15th, we went to Apex Park, near Golden. Early summer wildflowers that continue to bloom in the foothills include Foothill Arnica, Harebells, Parry Geraniums, Beebalm, Toadflax, Gumweed, and Ten-petal Mentzelia. You may also see the occasional Lupine or Paintbrush and naturally, weeds like Thistle and Common Mullein are growing like weeds! We saw so many deer at Apex, that I photographed more deer than flowers.

On August 24th, we went on a twelve mile out-and-back hike on a section of the Colorado Trail, starting from Little Scraggy Trailhead. To get there, we drove about an hour and 15 minutes from Denver, through the little town of Pine Grove, Colorado. (Or Pine, as my husband insisted. The townsfolk refer to it as Pine Grove.)

Most of the six-mile section of trail we hiked was forested but there were a couple of small meadows with lots of butterflies. There were also a lot of scraggy rock formations.

We saw many of the same flowers you see in the foothills closer to Denver including asters of every color. Surprisingly, I saw one Columbine still blooming though I saw many Columbine plants along the trail. I also saw a few Fairy Trumpet flowers, a red flower I have never seen in the foothills.

Late Blooming Columbine

Fairy Trumpet

One of the flowers that you see blooming a lot in August is Broom Groundsel. In one of the little meadows, I saw a Salsify flower.

Broom Groundsel

Salsify and Asters

Black-eyed Susan

Next weekend, I will be hiking theTwin Owls Loop at Rocky Mountain Park. I have been seeing some fabulous photos of wildflowers on the Rocky Mountain National Park Facebook page. I hope to see many for myself.