Alpine Flowers at Mount Evans, Colorado

As promised, a follow-up post of closeup shots taken at the Mount Goliath alpine garden. While I had to exclude hundreds of shots to keep this post within reason, I still managed to go overboard with over 30 images. As a result, I have embedded a slideshow so that those of you with a slow connection are not left trying to load this page for the next week.

I’ve identified as many plants as possible. If you’d like to know the names, click through to their Flickr page.

[Note: For some reason the images are compressed in the slideshow in a way that makes them look very low res. Until I can resolve the issue, I’d suggest taking a look at the original images as they look okay in that version. Sorry about that!]

American Bistort (Polygonum bistortoides). The wetland area was dotted with these small, white puffs.

I took this photo at Summit Lake, which is at a higher elevation and much colder (therefore the plants that were blooming were different). I was unable to identify this plant but am very taken with it. If you know what it is or even have a guess, I’d be grateful to know.

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If you’re interested in learning more about cold-hardy alpines or growing them yourself, I highly recommend, “High and Dry: Gardening with Cold-Hardy Dryland Plants” by Robert Nold. It’s an exhaustive and excellent book on the subject. A second book that I keep meaning to pick up for myself is “Hardy Succulents: Tough Plants for Every Climate” by Gwen Kelaidis.

Gayla Trail
Gayla is a writer, photographer, and former graphic designer with a background in the Fine Arts, cultural criticism, and ecology. She is the author, photographer, and designer of best-selling books on gardening, cooking, and preserving.

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4 thoughts on “Alpine Flowers at Mount Evans, Colorado

  1. A lovely collection of Colorado’s finest, Gayla. Thank you for sharing these! Maybe we’ll plan a hike there later this summer!

    And huzzah to Bob Nold! His book is EXCELLENT. He is deeply knowledgeable, and his storytelling style is both forthright and hilarious.

  2. Absolutely beautiful plants and flowers. I know you had a wonderful trip. By the way, I have enjoyed your two books so much and have learned a lot from them.

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