2 Rocky Mountain Irises

Iris missouriensis. The meadows by my new house were full of irises this summer.

Single Rocky Mountain Iris

Iris misouriensis.

Calypso sideview

Calypso bulbosa. This was a great year for orchids in Colorado.'s Front Range. I'd never seen them on this trail outside of Lyons, CO before.

Full Frontal Calypso Orchid

I was lucky to find a dozen of these tiny beauties trailside.

Early or Summer Coral Root Orchid

Corallorhiza trifida. A friend had told me that he had seen these circum-boreal orchids on a trail outside of Boulder, CO. I got up early & hiked the trail before work to get a glimpse. This proved to be lucky as the next day it hailed & rained very hard, decimating many plants.

Yellow Coralroot Orchids

There were 2 groupings of these flowers. I actually missed the first one on my way up, but saw it on my way back

Nascent Spotted Coralroot Orchid

Even though this one wasn't open yet, I loved the backlighting.

White Columbine

This was such a banner year for wildflowers, I confined myself to the more unusual ones. While not rare, the white/alba columbines are much less common than the blue ones that are the state flower of Colorado.

Green Gentian closeup

Green gentians are monocarpic plants. That is, they bloom once in their lifetime.

Pollinator and Green Gentian

A pollinator hard at work on a green gentian.

White Mitrewort

Mitella stauropetala.

Century Plant Flowers

Century plants are monocarpic plants, blooming once in their lifetimes.

Century Plant

There were 3 of these plants in bloom in Boulder this year. The 2 at the University of Colorado's greenhouse were about 30 years old. The 3rd was at a private residence.