Visiting Northern Colorado-- June Flowers

I walked the grasslands by Pinewood Reservoir in Larimer County on June 14, 2017.

From a distance it looked like rather dull grassland

Visiting Colorado--The Foothills in March

I've been out in Larimer County Parks, checking out sites for spring wildflower walks. I took lots of pictures to get a head start identifying the common plants on those trails. I thought my walks to be "early spring drab" ... then I reviewed my slides.

Look!

The trail beckons
south end of Sundance Trail, Carter Lake

Visiting Northern Colorado--Fields of Wildflowers!

We looped through the mountains of northern Colorado and southern Wyoming this last week (June 28-July 3 2015). In May the snowfall in this area was particularly heavy, resulting in a relatively late snowmelt and an abundance of water for wildflowers.

Visiting Northern Colorado--June Flowers at Carter Lake

fringed puccoon, Lithospermum incisum

Check out the flowers at Carter Lake this spring!

This blog post shows flowers from early June 2014--soon to be visible again!

 We drove to the south end of Carter Lake, southern Larimer County, Colorado, and took a casual walk in the campground. It was very quiet on a weekday morning.

Visiting Denver--The Denver Botanic Garden, the Plants as Art

Dale Chihuly's glass art, in the Denver Botanic Garden until November 2014, is very much worth seeing, but when it is gone, the plants will still be there. Influenced by Chihuly's glass, I looked at the plants and saw some fantastic shapes and colors--

Visiting Denver--Chihuly Art at the Denver Botanic Gardens

Chihuly glass, Denver Botanic Garden

The Denver Botanic Gardens are  a glorious place.

Right now there is an art display of Dale Chihuly's glass sculpture throughout the garden.

The art makes me think about gardens and art: plants are beautiful without sculpture--in the next blog I have pictures of plants from the Denver Botanic Garden that same day, seeing it as "great art, by Nature." (link)

But the Chihuly pieces are a "must see" while they're in Denver (until Nov. 2014). I like some very much, for others I thought the garden more beautiful before they were added. And so it was great fun.

Visiting the Rocky Mountains -- Early Spring in Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park, part 2

aspens in April

We drove to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park at the beginning of April from the lowlands at the base of the Rocky Mountains.  If you don’t know the area, Estes Park is the city at the east entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). Unless you camp in RMNP, if you come from the east, you are likely to stay in Estes Park to explore Rocky Mountain National Park.  

Estes Park is a small city, not a forest reserve. There are a number of towns with park in their name at about 8000 feet on the front range of Colorado. It means a level area up in the mountains. (From the Oxford English Dictionary: "park. In some parts of the United States, especially Colorado and Wyoming: a high plateau-like valley among the mountains." )

Visiting the Rocky Mountains -- Early Spring in Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park

The first of April is very early spring at 7,500 feet in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, but we had a lovely time in Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.

Even though most of the plants were dormant, they were beautiful--

Aspen (Populus tremuloides) leafless for a few more weeks

aspen, Populus tremuloides