Wildflowers of the Colorado Foothills in June

I became passionate about wildflowers after I began trail running in the Colorado foothills several years ago. I love seeing the variety of plant life that springs up in dry, rocky places, in the shady wooded areas and next to the streams. I am still discovering new wildflowers on my treks up and down these hills. This month I was happy to identify the following flowers for the first time: Western Blue Virginsbower, Solomon's Plume, White Fairy Trumpet, Scarlet Gaura, Carolina Larkspur, both Tufted and Cutleaf Primrose, White Campion, Field Mint and Golden Smoke.

Chimney Gulch

The first week of June, I went to Chimney Gulch Trail for my second trail run of the year. It was sprinkling a bit when we arrived at the parking area off of Lookout Mountain Road but the rain held off for our run. The prettiest blooms on the trail were the lavender colored Penstemon, Yellow Banner and Whiskbroom Parsley. In the shady forest parts of the trail, I found Western Blue Virginsbower and Solomon's Plume. The maximum elevation on the trail is about 7,500 feet.

Penstemon

Western Blue Virginsbower

Apex Park, Golden

The trails at Apex sustained damage from the September 2013 floods so some of them were closed for restoration work. This is always a popular park with mountain bikers; now the bikers share the hiker trail from the upper parking lot off of Heritage Square. I wanted to run on one of my favorite trails - Enchanted Forest - so my husband and I ran a total of eight miles. Some of the trails, like Sluicebox, are exposed and rocky but Enchanted Forest is densely wooded.  One one of the lower rocky trails, I found a white Fairy Trumpet. I didn't know what it was at the time and nearly confused it with the Carolina Larkspur that I saw a couple of days later at Green Mountain. (I've seen red Fairy Trumpets but not in the foothills). Enchanted Forest is always a good shady place to see Heartleaf Arnica. The Foothills variety of Arnica are found next to the dry, exposed trails.

White Fairy Trumpet

Penstemon - Bluemist

Heartleaf Arnica

Solomon's Plume

Green Mountain (William F Hayden Park), Lakewood

It is usually hot when I run at Green Mountain, which is located just off the Alameda Parkway exit on C470. This time, we went in the morning and it was very pleasant. I don't know if it is typically like this is June or if it was because we have had so much rain, but the wildflowers were really gorgeous! There was a profusion of pink Locoweed, Wild Blue Flax and Western Spiderwort. I was excited to find a wildflower I had not seen before - Scarlet Guara. I learned that this plant has white flowers that turn pink as the blooms age. I also saw a Penstemon that differs from the ones I typically see at the higher elevations. Even the wild delphiniums looked different at this elevation (about 6,800 feet).

Penstemon

Scarlet Gaura

Carolina Larkspur

Lair 'o the Bear Park, Jefferson County

After the first 1.3 miles on this trail, which runs along Bear Creek, I had my eyes out for a purple flower I first saw on this trail in early June last year - Sugarbowls. I saw no sign of them on the way up but saw a couple of faded blooms on my way back down. Timing is everything! Along the creek, there were a lot of what I think were probably Hoary Alyssum blooms. Further up the trail, I found a couple of flowers from the Evening Primrose family - Tufted and Cutleaf. The first one I saw was closed up and pink; I learned that the blooms are pink when they begin to fade. When I reached the more wooded part of the trail, I finally saw Colorado Columbine. 

Tufted Primrose

Cutleaf Primrose

Colorado Columbine

Beaver Brook/Chavez Trail Loop, Golden

This was a new trail for me and I hiked it with a group from my athletic club. We went in a counter-clockwise direction to make the steeper sections easier. The wildflowers were beautiful - lots of Penstemon, Spiderworts, Columbine, Cinquefoil, Showy Pussytoes, Wallflowers and Salsify. Along the creek, the plants were especially lush - violets, Richardson Geraniums, Meadow Anenomes and Shooting Stars.

Meadow Anenome

Golden Smoke (Corydalis)

Shooting Star

Blanket Flower

White Ranch, Jefferson County

The Mustang Trail and Wrangler's Run trails were closed due to damage from the September 2013 flood. Along the first part of the Belcher Hill trail, the easement area, the Cow Parsnip were growing about eight feet tall - they looked like trees! As we ascended up the rocky, steep section of the trail there were lots of Silvery Lupine, Foothills Arnica, Indian Paintbrush, Harebells and Blanket Flowers, one of may favorites. My new finds on this excursion were Wild Mint, which had a pinkish/purple hue and White Campion (not pictured). My photos did not turn out that great but you can at least see the way the blooms are stacked on the stem of the Mint.  The maximum elevation was about 7,400 feet.

Silvery Lupine

Wild Mint

Cinquefoil

When we finished our run, the horses were grazing on the private land that the trail crosses from the parking lot. It looks like this horse enjoys the flowers too!