RHH's photos with the keyword: coerulea

Photographed near Cathedral Lake in the Colorado Rockies, this is the state flower of Colorado and one of its most beautiful wildflowers.

This Colorado Blue Columbine was photographed above Snowmass Lake in the Colorado Rockies in 2020 while backpacking there.

Photographed near Cathedral Lake in the Colorado Rockies, Aquilegia coerulea is one of the most beautiful wildflowers of the Rockies.

These Colorado Blue Columbine were photographed near Cathedral Lake in the Colorado Rockies.

When we found these Columbine while hiking neither of us had ever seen anything like it and concluded that they had to be a variety of the Colorado Blue Columbine. When we were able to look them up we discovered that they were indeed a rare spurless variety of the Blue Columbine, Aquilegia coerulea var. daileyea.

The wildflowers we saw while hiking in the Colorado Rockies were unbelievable. Many of the mountain meadows were like gardens. I haven't posted any photos yet of them, but we saw Indian Paintbrush in every imaginable shade and many flowers, too, that we did not recognize and still have to identify. My favorite, though, is the Blue Columbine, a wildflower I had not seen for many years and was delighted to see again. This example was photographed near Maroon Lake.