Born to be wild

Grab your morning joe and join the buzz outside. In the spring, Paws Up’s bloomin’ botany is a breakfast buffet for pollinators like bees and butterflies. Wildflowers are what power the hard labor that helps crops and other critical plants to grow, and their roots go deep, providing storage for water and nutrients, making them a crucial part of the ecosystem all year long.

But it’s when the snow melts around March or April, watering the seeds below the surface, that their colors come bursting onto the scene. Flowers appear one after another, in succession, and you can follow their blooms up in elevation. First, you’ll see them in the lower areas, and then the yellows, purples and pinks work their way up the hills and mountains as the season progresses.

Take the time to notice, and you’ll be in for quite a show. Naturalist and Paws Up guide Kristina Davis walks us through the timeline.

Buttercups

The first sign that spring is coming

Small in size and low to the ground

Look for five yellow petals and a green center

Shooting Stars

Leaves at ground level

Petals on a taller slender stem

Look for bright purple petals that point backwards

Bonus—they’re edible!

Pasqueflowers

Low to the ground

Fuzzy hairs on the stem and sepals

Look for purple petals with a yellow center

How The Colors Of Spring Deepen Our Connection To Nature

Because Paws Up is a private natural preserve, you may pick the flowers. But please only do so if you’re planning to eat them, press and preserve them or use them for some other purpose. Otherwise, leave them for others, like the bees and butterflies, to enjoy.

And for help identifying species, download Seek by iNaturalist . It’s a free app that allows you to simply point your phone’s camera to find out what you’re seeing while you’re out on the trails.

Lupine

Can be poisonous to cattle but grows where they graze

Slender leaves that form a small pocket for a drop of water to be captured

Look for flowers that are a pyramid of purple, and seedpods that look like peapods

IndianPaintbrush

A stalk of red flowers

Green slender leaves running the length of the stem

Look for a flower that looks like, well, a paintbrush!

Arrowleaf Balsamroot

(not pictured)

Grows on open hillsides

Large leaves shaped like arrows

Look for a sunflower-like main flower

Yellow Bells

(not pictured)

Short-to-the-ground plants

Slender green leaves

Look for a yellow drooping flower