Dave Sutherland Photo Gallery: Boulder, Colorado Native Plants
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“Safety tip from Ranger Dave: Don’t eat anything called ‘Death Camas.’ Even its scientific name, Toxicoscordion venenosum, sounds poisonous.”
— Dave Sutherland
Rabbit Brush with a Painted Lady butterfly - photo by Jan Liverance
Broom Senecio (Senecio spartioides) blooms in fall on Boulder's mesa tops.
Stiff Goldenrod (Oligoneuron rigida) is a common late summer and fall wildflower of the mesa tops.
Look for the feathery seeds of Little Bluestem grass in dry prairies during the fall.
Side-oats Grama, a native prairie grass, makes me think of a ladder!
Parry's Gentian, one of the last flowers of the season, is only a couple inches tall.
Hairy Golden Aster (Heterotheca villosa) has fuzzy stems and leaves, and grows close to the ground. It blooms from mid-summer into fall.
Smooth Aster (Aster laevis) is a common late summer and fall wildflower, often under the Ponderosa Pine trees.
Curly-cup Gumweed (Grindelia squarrosa) is a common late summer and fall wildflower found all around Boulder. The flowers grow from sticky caps with curly little tendrils.
Golden Currant shrubs (Ribes aureum) produce loads of delicious berries in late summer. Wildlife love this bush!
Goldenrod Soldiago sp. flowers with soldier beetles.
Sundrops (Oenothera fruticosa) in the Evening Primrose family occurs on the grasslands around Boulder. It's a low-growing late summer flower.
One of the toughest native grasses, Western Wheat Grass has a blue-green color and distinct rough parallel veins on the leaves.
Arctic Gentians bloom late in the seaon in high-country meadows.
Chicory is an invasive non-native weed that can take over grasslands. The light blue daisy-like flowers are distinctive.
Green Needle Grass (Stipa viridula) grows on mid-grass prairies to 2 or 3 feet in height.
The white flowers of the native Porter's Aster (Aster porteri) are common in late summer and fall. Don't confuse it with the similar flowers of the White Prairie Aster - Porter's leaves are greener, thin and almost needle-like.
Blue Gramma - Colorado's state grass - a common short grass prairie species as you'll see it in late summer. The seed heads look like eyelashes!
Horned Grama is much less frequent than its cousin Blue Grama.
Mountain Muhly is a distinctive native grass of the foothills, visible in late summer and fall.
Purple Three-awn, a common grass of the short grass prairie - in late summer. It's only a few inches tall. Each individual seed has three long awns.
Blue-mist Penstemon (Penstemon virens) covers shady mesa tops. In a good year, its flowers look like a low bluish fog under the pine trees in May and early June. Photo by Jan Liverance.
Golden Banner (Thermopsis divaricarpa) is a bumblebee-pollinated flower in the Pea family. Some years in May it covers Chautauqua Meadow! Photo by Jan Liverance.
White Evening Primrose (Oenothera caespitosa) - pollinated by and host plant to White-lined Sphinx Moth. It's a wonderful native garden flower!
Look for Scarlet Globe Mallow, or Cowboy's Delight, in dry prairies in late May and early June. It's only about 6" tall! Photo by Jan Liverance.
Blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia parviflora) flowers are so tiny you need a magnifying glass to appreciate their delicate beauty.
Blue Prairie Spiderwort (Tradescantia occidentalis) is a mid-summer bloomer.
Two-grooved Milkvetch (Astragalus bisulcatus) is common on the foothills north of Boulder. Look for it in May.
Golden Groundsel, or Ragwort (Packera plattensis) blooms mid-summer, often in the shade under the Ponderosa Pine trees.
Look for Tall Coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata) in shady moist drainages in the foothills in mid summer. It really is tall - 4 feet or more!
Purple Prairie Clover (Dalea purpurea) is a mid-summer blooming wildflower of the prairie that is a favorite with pollinators!
The forests around Boulder have several native geraniums. The pinkish one, Wild or Fremont's Geranium (Geranium caespitosa) is the most common.
Ocean Spray (Holodiscus dumosus) is a low-growing flowering shrub, great for gardens, that blooms in mid-summer.
There are several native cinquefoils around Boulder. The Leafy Cinquefoil (Drymocalis fissa) is less than a foot tall and has soft fuzzy leaves.
An odd late spring flower, Sugar Bowls or Leather Flower is a foot tall wild Clematis! Look for it along Goshawk Ridge trail, or in Sunshine Canyon in June.
Scarlet Gaura îs a late spring flower of the prairies.
You'll need a hand lens to appreciate the tiny flowers of Bunny in the Grass! Yes, that's what they look like. Also called Western Figwort (Scrophularia lanceolata), it's in the Snapdragon family despite the square stem that suggests Mint family.
The Blue Clematis is an uncommon native vine found in cool and shady most forests.
Shooting Stars (Dodecatheon pulchellum) bloom in late May and early June in and around creeks and shady drainages. The tiny flowers are shaped like lavender badminton darts!
Very uncommon in Colorado, Beaked Hazelnuts (Corylus cornuta) are relicts from the Ice Age. Now they are only found in cool moist drainages like Long Canyon and Bear Canyon.
Every flower of Elephant Heads (Pedicularis groenlandica) really looks like a tiny pink elephant! You'll find this plant in wet boggy meadows in the high country.
Bee Balm (Monarda fistulosa) is a favorite of pollinators such as butterflies and hummingbirds. Like other plants in the Mint family, the leaves are aromatic - hence its other name, Wild Orgeano. Blooms in July.
Pony Beebalm (Monarda pectinata) is the white annual relative of the larger purple species. I only know it from a few places, like the sandy soils at the White Rocks.
Ten-petal Blazing Star (Mentzelia decapetala) is a tall night-blooming wildflower of the dry shale barrens north of Boulder. Its growth habit suggests a scraggly thistle, but those huge white flowers will stop the show.
Wood Lilies (Lilium philadelphicum) are rare native wildflowers of shady moist woodlands, sometimes found in Aspen forests. They bloom in late summer.
Golden Currant shrubs (Ribes aureum) flower in May. They yellow tubular flowers smell like cloves!
Pallid Showy Goldenrod (Solidago speciosa subsp. pallida) is a wildflower common in the Eastern USA that is seldom found near Boulder. A concentration grows on the sandy cliffs of the White Rocks.
You'll find Purple Fringe (Phacelia sericea) n the high country during July.
Bistort flowers grow on a tall thin stalk. Look for it in the high country in July.
Death Camas (Toxicoscordion venenosum) is a bulb plant of the prairie. It blooms in early spring. Watch out - it really is poisonous to eat!
Twin Berry (Lonicera involucrata, I call it Hot Lips) is a shrub of higher elevations. Its two tubular yellow flowers become twin berries by July, surrounded by eye-catching red bracts.
In mid-June, look for the lovely sky blue flowers of Narrowleaf Penstemon (Penstemon angustifolius) on the prairie. I've seen it at Gunbarrel Hill.
Ninebark is a flowering shrub that blooms in shady moist areas during the late spring.
The Wavy-leaf Thistle (Cirsium undulatum) is a native! Unlike the noxious introduced thistles, its leaves are a pale greenish-grey with a undulating leaf like a lasagna noodle. Please don't pull them thinking they're weeds! The pale flowers can be almost white.
Spring Beauty is one of the first flowers of spring! It grows in shady moist places along trails in the foothills.
Perhaps the most spectacular of early spring flowers is the Pasque Flower (Pulsatilla patens). Look for them at the end of April and early May along the Goshawk Ridge and Sunshine Canyon trails.
Oregon Holly Grape (Mahonia repens) is neither a holly nor a grape. Its tiny yellow flowers - seen here in an extreme close up - bloom very early in spring. They look like tiny daffodils through a hand lens.
Mountain Candytuft blooms very early in spring, in shady places under pines. It's in the Mustard family.
Salt and Pepper, or Biscuitroot (Lomatium orientale) is one of the first native wildflowers of the prairie. It's only a few inches tall!