Lance-Leaved Stonecrop
Sedum lanceolatum I tend to think of this bunchy upright succulent as a loner, but right now I’m seeing crops of stonecrops:
Fleabanes and the Like
Another one of those large flower groups that prove troublesome to those of us who haven’t learned to key out plants. These are some of the first flowers we see in spring, but like so many of the native plants, they know how to take advantage of precipitation; our May and early June snowstorms encouraged…
Narrow-leaved puccoon
If you’re new to Between Urban and Wild or haven’t stopped by in a while, we’re having a terrific wildflower year in this part of central Colorado. I’m spending July blogging the bloom: posting a photo a day of a plant that’s flowering this month. My rules are: native plants, all photographed in July, and…
Western Blue Flax
Linum lewisii
Boulder Raspberry (was thimbleberry)
I’ve been using the term “wildflowers,” but I’m including flowering plants more broadly in my project. Rubus parviflorus 7/8: Nope. More likely Boulder Raspberry, Oreobatus deliciosus. They’re almost finished flowering now, with just a few scattered flowers on the bushes, but a month or so ago the thimbleberry shrubs were thick with these fluttery pure-white blooms.…
Silky Locoweed
This white form of locoweed tends to bloom early. Most of it has set set seed in our area already, but those plants still flowering are popular. Oxytropis sericea Same bumblebee here (it worked over a cluster of plants quite thoroughly while I watched), in a picture that shows the sage-gray plant.
Scarlet Paintbrush
Okay, everyone, I need you to imagine the sound of a bottle rocket launching. Here, I’ll help you: tskssssssssssksssssshsss…. sksssssssshssskssssssss…. shsssksssssssssssskssssss… Bang! Castilleja miniata
Groundsels
Senecio species I’d need to dig deeper to narrow down the name, since we have a couple of variations in leaf shape/wooliness and some differences in the ray shape and arrangement. Based on the habitat here, chances are pretty good that these are Rocky Mountain groundsel, S. streptanthifolius. In any event, these flowers have quite…
Sticky Geranium
Geranium viscosissimum One of our relatively few pink wildflowers.
July Vacation
This morning began with work on a blog post I’ve had in mind since sometime in May. I took a batch of pictures for it on the first of June, and finally started writing this morning, running late but determined and optimistic. By mid-morning, I had a rough draft and broke off for a quick…