Best place to see wild flowers in Colorado (Denver, Lakewood: live, gardens)

[bicky]

Hi guys, I recently moved to Colorado and this is my first Spring in CO. What is the best time and place to see wild flowers in Colorado?

[bluescreen73]

Originally Posted by bicky

Hi guys, I recently moved to Colorado and this is my first Spring in CO. What is the best time and place to see wild flowers in Colorado?

Yankee Boy Basin near Ouray in late spring. I personally haven't been up there but I know you'll need a 4x4 to get there, preferably something with a small wheelbase. If you're looking for something more accessible there are some open meadows on Rabbit Ears Pass near Steamboat Springs.

[davebarnes]

Denver Botanic Gardens

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

If you're talking about the mountains, the timing is always tough. The flowers bloom much later at higher altitudes than in Denver.

Crested Butte is known as the Wildflower Capital of the World and you should check out their website to see when they have festivals. We've seen great blooms up there in mid summer, but it can vary.

[BarryK123]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

Denver Botanic Gardens

Those are tame flowers.

[Neditate]

You don't have to go to the mountains to see wildflowers unless that's where you want to go. There are great wildflower hikes all along the front range.
You could do the Hayden/Green Mountain trail in Lakewood, Roxborough State Park South Rim trail or Deer Creek Canyon in Littleton. You'll probably see flowers by the end of April.
There are wonderful hikes in the Indian Peaks Wilderness and Rocky Mountain National Park. Usually wildflowers start blooming toward the end of June but I think this year will be earlier. (I live @8300' and my columbines are getting big already - more than a month early.)

I use these books by Pamela and David Irwin as my guide: Colorado's Best Wildflower Hikes Vol. 1: the Front Range, and Vol. 2: the High Country.

BTW the Crested Butte Wildflower Festival is July 9-15 this year Crested Butte Wildflower Festival :: Festivals in Crested Butte :: Colorado Wildflowers

[bicky]

Thank you all!!

[Snikt]

There are some flowers near Denver, but generally speaking for the best scenery (fall, wildflowers, etc..) you need to be at least 2 hours away from Denver.

Some people that live here never venture out far, the best stuff is in the other parts of the state. San Juans, Sangre de Cristos, etc..

[woob]

Crested Butte is really incomparable to anything in the front range. Last year they bloomed late (end of july) because of the deep snowpack and were even more brilliant than usual-



This year i'm sure they will be much earlier and probably not quite as impressive due to the dry weather.

[AKCOVTWACO]

I second Yankee Boy Basin ouside Ouray. Was there in September ( too late) and the flowers were still amazing. i can only imaging what it looked like a few weeks prior. 4x4 yes but nothing crazy, any SUV would get you there. Make a long weekend out of it, the entire telluride area is fabulous.