From early to mid-summer, Colorado towns like Breckenrdige come alive with brilliant displays of vibrant wildflowers sprouting across the mountains. Alpine fields of green and brown transform into awesome palettes of yellows, oranges, purples and blues. Breckenridge is no stranger to this colorful phenomenon, and your eyes will rejoice during your summer stay as they take in wildflower scenes seemingly straight out of the Wizard of Oz.
Read on to discover four different types of Colorado wildflowers you're likely to find in Breckenridge this summer as well as a few great places to see them from.
Colorado Columbine
To kick things off we have the Colorado State Flower, the Columbine. Columbines come in an assortment of different colors, but the arrangement you're most likely to find here in Breck is the classic lavender, white and yellow color scheme. You'll often come across Columbines growing in small groups, but they can also grow in large bushy arrangements with dozens of flowers.
Although these wildflowers aren't especially rare around Breckenridge, they also aren't the most common flowers to come across. According to the U.S. Forest Service, you're most likely to find them in shady aspen groves, open forests, meadows, and along talus slopes.
Silvery Lupine
Next up we have the Silvery Lupine, a tall wildflower of the pea family that's known to fill entire fields with its signature blue-purple hue. Especially amongst the vibrant summer greens of Breckenridge's meadows and mountain-sides, Silvery Lupine contrasts beautifully and makes for some truly stunning Colorado photo ops!
Of all the wildflowers you can expect to encounter during your summer visit to Breckenridge, the Silvery Lupines are perhaps the most common. They're all over the place and stay in bloom from as early as May to as late as September, meaning you'll have plenty of opportunities to snap a few shots of these beautiful and bountiful flowers.
Orange Sneezeweed
Part of the fun with identifying Colorado's wildflowers are the often colorful names which match their vibrant appearances. That's certainly the case with the Orange Sneezeweed, a wildflower from the daisy family with orange or yellow drooping petals. Orange Sneezeweed loves to take in that high-altitude sun, and thus it grows abundantly in sunny meadows and open forests. Like the Silvery Lupine, this flower is amongst the more common you'll find out and about in Breck during the summer.
Given its name, you may be tempted to pick up this inviting wildflower and take a large whiff to see if it does induce a sneezing fit. However, you'll want to avoid doing that since ALL of Orange Sneezeweed is poisonous, and ingesting it can cause "spewing sickness," which is exactly as unpleasant as it sounds. So yeah, just stick to photographing and observing this one from a healthy distance.
Indian Paintbrush
Out here in Colorado, we have both Rosy Paintbrush and Indian Paintbrush. Although the vibrant pinks of Rosy Paintbrush are also quite spectacular, the fiery reds of Indian Paintbrush make it truly standout amongst Colorado's other wildflowers. That's not just an opinion by the way. Since green and red are complementary colors, color theory denotes the reds of Indian Paintbrush are a virtually perfect contrast to the greens of the Colorado meadows and mountainsides in which the flowers grow. Talk about picture-perfect!
Interestingly, the colorful red and pink sections of Paintbrush plants aren’t flowers, but specially modified leaves (AKA bracts). The actual flowers of this plant are small green growths hidden within the leaves. But hey, whatever it takes to bring out those delightful colors is fine by us!
Those are our four favorite Colorado wildflowers you can expect to find in and around Breckenridge this summer. If you want to discover even more wildflower species in Breck, be sure to check out the GoBreck Wildflower Guide.
And, of course, to get out and find these wildflowers, you'll need a great home base to stay at in Breckenridge. Here at Exclusive Vacation Retreats, we have a wonderful selection of comfortable, well-maintained and luxurious rental homes to fit your summer vacation needs! Click the link below to see all our available vacation homes.