Wildflowers - A Reason to Visit Yellowstone

People visit Yellowstone for a big dose of nature - Old Faithful, Mammoth Hot Springs, the bison, a chance to see a grizzly - all the familiar, tourist attraction, postcard stuff. And while all of these things are a pretty good reason to visit the area, there is one dose of nature that passes largely ignored, never mind being a reason to visit the park. That dose of nature is wildflowers.

Wildflowers, which are some of nature's best work, are splashed all over Yellowstone in a rainbow of colors like pigments on Jackson Pollock's drop cloth. They herald the spring in a wash of white phlox and Spring Beauties, and yellow violets and lomatiums. As the days grow longer and the temperatures rise, blues and purples and pinks are dabbed across the landscape in the form of larkspurs and Sticky geraniums and Shooting Stars and the first lupines. And it's only just getting started.

By July the variety of wildflowers and colors, blooming in a variety of habitats, is incredible. Rocky roadsides, sandy plains, grasslands, savannahs and open woodlands sprout floral rainbows of wildflowers that have adapted to dry conditions. Shades of blue and purple lupines and larkspurs are joined by Silky Phacelia, Fuzzy Beardtongue and Blue Penstemon. Their deep rich hues are enhanced by bursts of yellow in the form of Sulfur Buckwheat, Blanketflower and Sulfur Paintbrush, and fiery licks of flaming red Wyoming Paintbrush.

Wet meadows and stream sides are likewise splashed with a spectrum of color. Common Paintbrush alone blossoms in shades of red, orange and yellow, but it is not alone. Pink Elephant's Head, White Bog Orchid and Yellow Monkeyflower can often be found growing in the same wet ground.

The wildflower bloom continues throughout the summer, climbing the slopes of the higher elevations, where, by August, high mountain meadows are flush with color, ripe for Monet's brush. It's as glorious a pastoral setting as any of us can possibly imagine; the kind of place we like to call "paradise." And no one seems to notice.

It might be all of the familiar tourist attractions that lure people to Yellowstone, but Old Faithful and grizzlies aren't the only show in town. Wildflowers are as a grand a dose of nature as any of that postcard stuff, and they are as good a reason to visit the park as any. Maybe even the best reason.