Sunday, July 18, 2021

A Wildflower Walk Along the Red Rocks






I am fortunate to live in a beautiful area in Colorado located along the Front Range that still has open space parks nearby in which to walk. Although I blogged about trails in this park herehere, and hereevery season brings new views and this summer has been a particularly good wildflower season.



South Valley Park is 995 acres and contains 8 miles of trails, all of which wind around beautiful ancient red rock formations.



The park has excellent examples of both the Lyons and Fountain rock formations.  Hard to believe these formations were formed 250 million years ago! More than 7 millennia before Egypt's pyramids were built, human hunter-gatherers lived in this area as 10,000-year-old flecks of charcoal and a Folsom-style spear point have been found in the park during archeological digs.



The rocks are large and impressive...



...and the pastoral foothill scenery makes one feel far from civilization.


The plentiful rain we received during June brought a prolific amount of wildflowers this year!



So many different varieties!


So many different colors...



 
Colorado Wildflowers is an excellent database of wildflower photos and descriptions listed by color, family, size, or keyword.



I am so fortunate to have this park just a mile away from my house! It brings us endless pleasure to be able to walk its paths and enjoy nature. 

I hope you are also having an enjoyable summer!


PS: A reminder to My Email Subscribers: beginning sometime during July 2021, the Blogger e-mail Feedburner subscription service will be turned off. Therefore, you will no longer receive emails when a new post is published at Mille Fiori Favoriti. I offer you the alternative of joining Bloglovin and subscribing to follow Mille Fiori Favoriti there. You will then receive emails when I publish a new post. Alternatively, you can also make a note of my blog's URL: https://millefiorifavoriti.blogspot.com
and then check weekly, usually on Mondays, for a new blog post. I hope you will use one of these alternatives. Thank you for reading my blog, published since 2007! I look forward to seeing all of you here at Mille Fiori Favoriti.


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40 comments:

Angie said...

Pat - well, you know this post is right up my alley! My goodness, look at those meadows! And against the backdrop of the rock formations. Doesn't get any better than that! I recognize most of the plants, or at least the families. Spectacular! Thanks for bringing Colorado beauty to Mosaic Monday!

To answer your question on my post: yes, some of my plants are caged to protect them from deer. I have found that the sprinklers with the motion sensors have been very effective to deter the deer, but I only have so many spigots/splitters! So, one side of the house had to be caged.

Penny from Enjoying The Simple Things said...

What a beautiful place to walk. The variety of wild flowers is amazing!

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

Beautiful place, all the red rocks and surrounding hills and mountains. I love the wildflowers you photographed.

eileeninmd said...

Hello Pat,
Looks like a wonderful hike and gorgeous views.
The rock formations and wildflowers are all beautiful.
Have a great new week!

FrenchGardenHouse said...

Thank you for this beautiful post, and for sharing all the beautiful scenery. It looks stunning, Colorado beauty at its best!

Tom said...

...this is a HUGE WOW. It's hard to beat wildflowers and those rock formations are fabulous. Thanks for taking me along.

NCSue said...

Gorgeous post with lovely images! I love the scenery and the wildflowers. Thank you for sharing at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2021/07/bath-time.html

Linda W. said...

Beautiful wildflowers!

Carol @Comfort Spring Station said...

beautiful park and I love the wildflowers

Gillena Cox said...

Lovely photos and mosaics. Happy Monday. I am #20 on the linky today

Much💜love

Tamar SB said...

So pretty!

Jenna H. said...

What gorgeous wildflowers!! Such great views for a walk.
Jenna ♥
Stay in touch? Life of an Earth Muffin

Margaret said...

Hi Pat, thank-you for this wonderful post, the wildflowers are so beautiful 💖

Lydia C. Lee said...

That's beautiful. A friend's daughter just performed at a big festival there - looked quite different in her pics from the stage! Ha.

Lydia C. Lee said...

And thanks for joining #Allseasons!

Ruth Hiebert said...

You truly do live in a beautiful area. All those wildflowers are spectacular .

Lowcarb team member said...

One big WOW from me :)

You live in a very beautiful area, fabulous photographs.

All the best Jan

stevebethere said...

Lovely photos I'mjealous would love a place like that to live near and visit now and again :-)

Thanks for the scenic tour

Have a bloomingtastic week 👍

ellen b. said...

You are fortunate indeed. What a lovely walk and beautiful wildflowers!

The Joy of Home with Martha Ellen said...

Such beauty surrounds you, Pat! How amazing to walk amoung these ancient stones with lovely wildflowers along the way. Thank you for sharing its uniqueness!

Jeanie said...

Those rocks are so impressive and so is your photography. The colors really pop. It's almost like the wildflowers are bonus points but oh, so pretty!

Crafty Green Poet said...

Beautiful photos! The rock formations are magnificent and it's lovely to see so many wildflowers

Hena Tayeb said...

Absolutely beautiful.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

OH this was so beautiful Pat! I've been trying to stop overusing the phrase "I loved ...." in my comments, but honestly it works here -- I really did love your wildflower collection and the way you arranged them. So colorful! You really do have a beautiful "backyard"!

Joanne said...

So many beautiful wildflowers! I love the ancient rocks in the background too.

Lorrie said...

Your wildflowers look beautiful. All the rain you had certainly helps. Our hills and forests are tinder dry right now and we would welcome rain. You have a beautiful place to walk.

diane b said...

You are lucky to live so close to this park with its amazing rock formations and colours. We are having some very cold days for Queensland. 3°C this morning. My friends and I opted to stay in bed instead of walking in the forest.

Marja said...

wow these rock formations are stunning and I love wildflowers These are very beautiful
You are lucky indeed to live in such a beautiful area

Barb said...

I really enjoy seeing all these wildflowers amid that beautiful landscape, Pat. Also, the Colorado blue sky is a nice backdrop. We've had weeks of smoke/haze, but finally daily rains have washed the sky here in Summit. Our wildflowers are prolific in the mountains from the moisture. We're so happy to get the rains to (hopefully) avert wildfire.

Jim said...

Beautiful sky.

Spare Parts and Pics said...

I'm a little jealous of your wildflowers. So beautiful!! We got very little this year. And oh, those red rocks! Absolutely gorgeous. I think I spotted an arch or window in one of those formations.

April J Harris said...

What beautiful wildflowers, Pat! The rocks are so impressive too, especially the way they sort of rise up out of the earth on all kinds of angles. Sharing this post on the Hearth and Soul Facebook page. Thank you so much for sharing it!

Small City Scenes said...

The wildflowers are so amazing. Colorful. The rock formations are amazing
MB

Michelle said...

Colorado is such a beautiful place and never short on stunning views. You are fortunate to live there! Thanks for linking up and stay well.

Magical Mystical Teacher said...

A walk like that would restore my soul.

betty-NZ said...

How wonderful to live among such beauty!

Thanks for your link at My Corner of the World this week!

Light and Voices said...

Greetings and Salutations! Awesome photographs.

Rambling Woods said...

I was a rock hound as a kid as was my Mom and I should look into it again and I am always pulled toward these interesting formations...Michelle

My Hubbard Home said...

I would love to walk through the meadow of blooms and around those fab rocks. What a fun post to add to the Friday with Friends link party.
Congrats, you are being featured at the next FWF party!
RR

Kippi O'Hern said...

You are so lucky to live only one mile from this amazing park. Have a wonderful weekend,
Kippi