Every July, something magical happens a few hours from our front doors. The alpine meadows surrounding Crested Butte erupt in waves of lupine (Lupinus argenteus), Indian paintbrush (Castilleja angustifolia), Rocky Mountain columbine (Aquilegia caerulea), and dozens of other native species transforming the landscape into a living impressionist painting.
Each summer, the town celebrates the Crested Butte Wildflower Festival, 10 days of guided hikes, photography workshops and garden tours honoring a place officially designated the Wildflower Capital of Colorado. But you don’t have to make the drive to the Elk Mountains to experience the beauty of wildflowers. With a little planning and the right know-how, you can create a piece of Colorado’s wildflower bounty right outside your door.
Getting started: Think like a Colorado meadow
The first instinct of many new wildflower gardeners is to scatter a “meadow mix” bag from the hardware store or gift shop and wait for magic. The reality is a bit more nuanced but not dramatically more difficult. Wildflowers are, after all, survivors. They have thrived for millennia across Colorado’s plains, foothills and high country without human intervention. Your job is simply to give them conditions close enough to what they need.
Start by choosing your site. Most wildflowers need full sun, at least six hours a day, and well-drained soil. This suits most of Colorado’s landscape well. Overly rich, heavily amended soil actually works against you, encouraging leafy growth at the expense of blooms and giving an advantage to weeds. Colorado wildflowers are designed for lean conditions, and our naturally thin, low-nutrient soils are often ideal.
Stay local with your seed selection
One of the most important choices you’ll make is where your seeds come from. Native plants are native for a reason: They evolved alongside the insects, birds and soil microbes of a specific region. A wildflower seed mix intended for Colorado landscapes will establish more reliably and be far more ecologically valuable than one sourced for another ecoregion. Look for seed companies that specialize in Colorado-origin or regionally sourced native seed.
You can also organize your planting around a theme. A pollinator garden gives you a clear and rewarding framework. For Colorado, excellent native choices include Rocky Mountain penstemon (Penstemon strictus), prairie coneflower (Ratibida columnifera), scarlet gilia (Imomopsis aggregata), and Rocky Mountain bee plant (Peritoma serrulata). These are favorites for native bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. They make for a garden that’s as alive with movement as it is with color.
Check that seed packet carefully
Before you buy, read the label. Some commercially sold “wildflower mixes” contain species that are non-native, and a handful can be invasive in Colorado – plants that, once established, spread aggressively into natural areas and crowd out native species. Dame’s rocket (Hesperis matronalis) is a common offender found in many retail mixes, and is listed as a noxious weed in Colorado. Oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) and yellow toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) are others frequently found in mixed packets. Look for mixes explicitly labeled “Colorado native species” and cross-reference unfamiliar names against Colorado’s Noxious Weed List maintained by the Department of Agriculture ().
Match your climate zone
Colorado’s geography makes climate matching especially important and interesting. The state spans USDA Hardiness Zones 3 through 7, from the high alpine tundra to the warm valleys of the Western Slope and the lower elevations of the southeastern plains. A wildflower well-suited to a Denver Front Range garden (Zone 5–6) may struggle at 8,000 feet in the mountains (Zone 4) and vice versa. Elevation, climate and the number of frost-free days matter as much as hardiness zone alone.
Preparing the seedbed
Good seedbed preparation pays dividends in the long run. The goal is to eliminate as much existing weed seed as possible before you sow. One effective method is the “stale seedbed technique”: till the soil, then wait two to three weeks for weed seeds to germinate. Hoe them off shallowly just to sever those seedlings and repeat once more if time allows. In Colorado’s drier climates, you may need to irrigate lightly to encourage that first flush of weeds.
Rake the surface to a fine, crumbly texture and broadcast seed by hand, pressing lightly into the surface. Resist the urge to bury seeds deeply; most wildflower seeds want light to germinate and should be covered with no more than a thin dusting of soil. In Colorado’s windy spring conditions, a light topdressing of weed-free straw can hold seeds in place and retain surface moisture.
The science of stratification
Here is where many first-time wildflower gardeners hit an unexpected wall. Many of Colorado’s most beautiful native wildflowers have built-in dormancy mechanisms that prevent them from germinating until they’ve experienced the conditions that naturally precede spring, namely a prolonged period of cold and moisture. This process is called cold stratification, and skipping it is one of the more common reasons native seeds fail to sprout.
In nature, seeds fall to the ground in autumn, spend the winter under cold soil and germinate when temperatures rise in spring. When you plant in fall (October is ideal for most of Colorado), the natural cycle handles stratification for you. If you’re sowing in spring from seeds stored indoors, you’ll need to simulate winter yourself: Place seeds in a damp paper towel or moist vermiculite, seal in a labeled zip-lock bag and refrigerate for four to eight weeks at 33-41 degrees.
Many of Colorado’s showiest natives require this treatment: Rocky Mountain columbine, prairie smoke (Geum triflorum) and native penstemons all germinate far more reliably after a cold period. If you’re unsure whether a particular species needs stratification, check the plant profiles at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’s database (). Some seeds have even more complex requirements and may be best sourced as starts from a reputable native plant nursery.
Patience is part of the process
A wildflower garden rarely looks like much in its first season. Year one is often dominated by foliage as plants establish their root systems, which is critical in Colorado’s dry climate. Year two is when the blooms begin in earnest. By year three, a well-tended wildflower patch takes on a life of its own: self-seeding, spreading and attracting wildlife you never knew your yard could support.
Colorado’s wildflowers are a shared inheritance that took thousands of years to evolve right here in this landscape. Growing them at home is a way of participating in that legacy. On a summer morning when a butterfly lands on your blanket flower or a hummingbird works its way through a patch of scarlet gilia, you’ll understand why those mountain meadows inspire a festival each year.
Resources
- CSU’s Colorado Native Plant Master Program has a searchable database of more than 1,000 Colorado plants at .
- Colorado Native Plant Society produces native plant guides for five different ecoregions in Colorado along with an extensive list of native plants. Visit .
- For a detailed guide on wildflower seed germination, Wild Ones Front Range’s publication, “Germination Guide for Native Seeds,” covers everything you need to know. Visit
Pam Rosendal is a Colorado master gardener.
