Mountain Mayhem: Wildflower season
Mountain Mayhem
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The elusive Wood Nymph, spotted near Huron Peak.
@sickwildflowers photo
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The Star Gentian can be easily missed because its deep purple color tends to camouflage it in the tall wetlands grasses where it thrives.
@sickwildflowers photo
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This unique Green Gentian seen in Snowmass Village grows for 80 years, flowers once in its lifetime, then dies.
@sickwildflowers photo
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The ultra-rare Tiburon Mariposa Lily grows only on one serpentine outcrop on Ring Mountain on the Tiburon peninsula in Marin County, Cali.
@sickwildflowers photo
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Arctic Alpine Forget-Me-Nots, also called King of the Alps, is a circumpolar cushion plant found in both the Rocky Mountains and the Alps.
@sickwildflowers photo
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The invasive and toxic Houndstongue is an herbaceous plant native to Eastern Europe and Western Asia and was accidentally introduced to North America through contaminated seed.
@sickwildflowers photo
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The showy milkweed is found in only a few spots in Aspen, mostly in disturbed areas like ski lift parking lots, roadsides and roundabouts.
@sickwildflowers photo
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Indian Paintbrush and Mountain Bluebells frame this meadow near Lost Man Lake.
May Selby photo
Having come across fields and pockets of beautiful blooms in the high country lately, you could say my wildflower curiosity has been piqued amidst the peaks. Running around Lost Man Loop last weekend with friends prodded it even further. One of those comrades is Jill Carnavale who runs the Instagram account @sickwildflowers when she’s not running her restaurant, Ellina. Along with Jasmine Hirsch, general manager and winemaker of Hirsch Vineyards in Healdsburg, Calif., Carnavale and she came up with the idea to document flowers, but weren’t so sure about how and where to share the images and information. It all started one summer when they were hiking around the Maroon Bells, obsessing over wildflowers and “we decided we should start a blog then changed our minds and opened an Instagram account and it took off!” They’ve kept it up and continue to captivate with their stunning photos and fun facts about flowers in the captions, which can be helpful when you’re out looking at flora and fauna and trying to identify what you’re seeing. A few favorites from their gallery are featured below and an abundance of images can be found on their social media account. If you’d like to share your own snaps, direct message them and they just may share them, crediting the source, of course.
Mountain Mayhem: ‘Tis the season
The festive season is upon us with lots of holiday events and activities on the calendar and a cheerful atmosphere with snowy slopes and twinkling lights all around town.
