Wildflowers in Rocky Mountain National Park - July, 2014

We were struck by the beauty and plethora of wildflowers we saw during our hikes and scenic drives. I eventually purchased a book at one of the Park's visitor centers so I could start to identify them.

The first thing I learned is that the wildflowers are classified into four colors: white, yellow, red, and blue. Of course, there is a wide range of reds (like pinks) and blues (like purples). Therefore, I have organized this post by those categories. I have been studying the book and attempted to identify the ones we photographed. Anyone who reads this probably knows a lot more about horticulture than I do, so feel free to correct anything that I may have misidentified!

This is by no means an all inclusive list of all of the wildflowers, just the ones we saw and photographed!  Here are some of our favorites.

White wildflowers.

Common (tansy) Yarrow

Yellow wildflowers.

Arrowleaf ragwort (senecio)

Western wallflower.

Fender's (Groundsel) Ragwort

Alpine false springparsley

Sulphur-flower (subalpine) buckwheat

Spearleaf stonecrrop.

Common gaillardia (blanket flower)

Black-eyed Susan (rudbeckia)

Little (bush) sunflower

Red wildflowers.

Wyoming Indian paintbrush.

Not sure of this one, but think it may a columbine.

Not sure on this one either, but I loved their bright orange colors! Maybe blanket flower.

Alpine (mountain) laurel.

Blue wildflowers.

Rydberg's penstemon.

Bluebell bellflower (common harebell).

Purple (Colorado) locoweed.

Tufted fleabane.

Wild bergamot (horsemint).

Pineywoods geranium.

Silvery lupine.

I really enjoyed learning more about wildflowers!