A late-season bloom of September mountain wildflowers

Leaf-peeping is the popular September activity of watching Aspen turn golden along the Peak-to-Peak Highway.

 Peak leaf-peeping season happens in mid-September, but Boulder Naturalists Steve Jones and Ruth Carol Cushman go out early to enjoy the beauty of green aspen leaves, and get the bonus of seeing an unusual, late-season bloom of mountain wildflowers, thanks to the late-season rainstorms that have added much-needed moisture to help the flowers come out in vivid yellows, purples and even reds.

 All this happens on a trail filled with aspen groves where their heart-shaped leaves glow in the sunlight and whisper in the wind. Most Boulder aspen are healthy, it seems, but how can people check them for a worrisome disease that makes aspen suddenly disappear?

On this month’s Nature Almanac, Ruth Carol will give us an answer.

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