Thanks to abundant moisture, wildflowers are starting to show across Colorado with hopes high for “super blooms” later this month as snow melts from the high country.
We asked a few experts and enthusiasts for their favorite viewing places around the state.
Jen Bousselot, Colorado State University assistant professor of horticulture
My absolute favorite is Mount Goliath Natural Area (above 12,000 feet on Mount Evans Scenic Byway). That’s one you have to wait the longest for, but that’s part of the sweetness of it.
I love Rocky Mountain National Park. And then behind there, up near Grand Lake, there’s a bunch on the Monarch Lake Trail.
One of the best places on the Front Range is Mueller State Park (near Divide) and also Staunton State Park (near Conifer).
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Maggie Gaddis, Colorado Native Plant Society executive director
Our prairie open spaces are just gangbusters. Bluestem Prairie Open Space (near Colorado Springs) and Dawson Butte Open Space (near Castle Rock) are great places to see prairie plants.
I think the most magical places in the world are in Chaffee County. Cottonwood Pass, Independence Pass, you can’t go wrong.
Tom Zeiner, volunteer and educator with Crested Butte Wildflower Festival
Besides Crested Butte, I like going out on the Uncompahgre Plateau in the Grand Junction area and up in Colorado National Monument.
I like going out on the plains, too. You go out to places like Vogel Canyon down south of La Junta and up to the Pawnee Buttes (northeast of Greeley), and there’s some really unusual plants.