Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Identifying Colorado Wildflowers

Driving home from the store yesterday, my husband and I had one of those interesting and oh, so memorable conversations.

"I love seeing all the different wildflowers out this late in the year. It's because of the rain, right?"

"Right. Did you ever learn all the names? Didn't you buy a Colorado wildflower book?"

"I did. Well... I kind of learned them."

A period of silence followed while I waited in vain for him to ask me what "kind of" meant. Finally I explained without him asking.

"There are some yellow ones with black centers. There are some big white ones. There are the gold ones. There are the tall purple ones. I see the little gold ones, too."

"Sounds like you're learning the names really fast," he said. He never even cracked a smile.

4 comments:

sherrie said...

I've always loved wildflowers, and a beautiful photo book of wildflowers was John's first gift to me, so I can't help but comment. I'm thinking that the "tall purple one" must be one of my all-time favorites, Colorado Columbine (Aquilegia Coerulea)! I first saw them while backpacking in Yellowstone Nat'l Forest many years ago, and have actually gotten them to grow here in Newbury Park. Is this the one?
http://greayer.com/studiog/?p=118

I love all purple flowers. We have the lovely lupine here in California, but to see the beautiful purple/blue columbine as wildflowers every year would be a heavenly treat. (I know, I'm preaching to the choir!)

My guess at the yellow and white flowers: Black-eyed Susans and Yarrow (they're not big flowers, but a large collection of very small flowers)???

Kathleen said...

You're right, Sherrie. The purple ones are Columbine. The white ones, truly lovely, appear to be Globeflowers, but they might be some kind of Primrose. There are also tiny white ones that baffle me. Little yellow appear to be Cinquefoil, and you're again right about the Black-Eyed Susans. I've also identified pink and purple False Baby Stars. At least, that's what I'm pretty sure they are. Still, it's fun to pull John's chain, not that I get much of a reaction. And I really need that book. I never remember the names.

Marrianne said...

That is funny! Sounds like a sketch you'd see on SNL or a sitcom.

sherrie said...

Yay for the columbine! I'd never heard of the False Baby Stars, but thanks to Google's image search I now know that they're beautiful. Thanks for new flowers to love.