In many ways, spring is the most glorious time of the year. After months of cold temperatures, gray skies, and frigid winds, the snow begins to melt. Buds are on the trees, birds chirp, and the smell of spring is in the air. Wildflowers are the best of all: Bursting with color, they fill up entire fields, reminding you of regeneration, life, and good things to come. Here are six of the best places to spot them.
New England Retreat
Lupines are simply lovely. Purple and pink, they spread out in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire, in the meadows of the White Mountains, reaching full bloom between mid-May and mid-June. Today, biologists recognize that these plants enrich both soil and air, but farmers once thought they poisoned livestock, and thus their name shares the Latin root for “wolf.” Visit this small town near picturesque Franconia Notch State Park in June during the annual Lupine Festival to fully appreciate their beauty.
Rocky Mountain Meadow
Once a 19th-century mining town, this Rocky Mountain village now welcomes skiers, hikers, and especially those who love alpine sunflowers, calypso orchids, glacier lilies, fireweed, and more. At an altitude of over 9,000 feet, Crested Butte, Colorado, is the state’s Wildflower Capital. It celebrates the annual Wildflower Festival from July 12–21 this year. Over 200 workshops focus on everything from photography to pollination to cooking up a storm. And, if you still have a little energy, lace up your boots for the 11-mile hike to Aspen.
Flowers in the Desert
The timing can be a bit tricky, but between February and May, this Mojave Desert Grassland near Los Angeles becomes a wonderland of poppies. In California’s Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve, every day can be different. Typically running red to orange, the rugged hillsides bloom with a kaleidoscope of wildflowers, including owl’s clover, cream cups, and goldfields. If you’re really lucky, you’ll visit during a “super bloom,” an intense period when poppies and other plants spring up after a wet winter after several dry years. No matter what, you’ll enjoy this state park, which has 8 miles of trails and all sorts of wildlife, including meadowlarks and even bobcats.
Crisp Alpine Wonderland
Visit Montana’s Glacier National Park at any time of year, and you’ll find some of the nation’s most stunning scenery. Snow-capped mountains, mighty fields of ice, emerald lakes, forests big enough to swallow you whole. If you come during the spring wildflower season—which peaks at lower elevations in April and May, and stretches through the summer, higher up—you won’t believe your eyes. Marvel at nearly 1,000 species, including fields of beargrass, glacier lilies, purple asters, and more. Those looking to be true experts can take a two-day wildflower workshop, which includes a 6-mile guided hike.
Volcanic Flower Fields
An active volcano, the white peak of Mount Rainier rises to an altitude of more than 14,000 feet, dwarfing the skyline of nearby Seattle. And the surrounding 369-square-mile Mount Rainier National Park preserves a natural wonderland, with glaciers and waterfalls and so much more. That’s especially true in the brief but beautiful wildflower season, when the subalpine meadows just beneath all that snow and ice bloom fully, from July until the August frost. Many head to the area appropriately named Paradise, on the southern flanks of the mountain, to enjoy red paintbrushes and pink penstemon and yellow tiger lilies.
This article was originally published in American Essence magazine.
