While many regions in the U.S. see their local wildflower populations flourish in late spring and early summer, here in Summit County we're often still trudging around in our snow boots until June.

As the temperatures increase throughout July, however, and thunderstorms begin their daily shows on August afternoons, we're rewarded at last with lush, showy fields of high-alpine color.

One of our favorite wildflower hikes is the McCullough Gulch trail, south of Breckenridge just below Mount Quandary, which leads past a string of stunning rocky waterfalls spilling from a glacial lake above. The trail to Lily Pad Lake, just west of Silverthorne, is another great spot for flowers and an easy hike for kids. We have it on good authority that prime flower-peeping can be found right this minute on Eccles Pass (an advanced hike west of Silverthorne, past the Lily Pad Lake trail), and, for those who want to venture a bit outside Summit County, on Shrine Pass between Copper Mountain and Vail.

In our dry climate, the showiest and rarest of wildflowers are found near water. One of the most unusual and beautiful we've seen is the elephant's head, which grows on a reddish-purple stalk topped by a spray of pink-purple blooms. Each flower has a bulbous center flanked by two floppy ear-like petals and lower lip that curves out and upward like an elephant's trunk. This plant loves soggy, boggy areas, so you might get your boots wet looking for it, but we think it's worth it — how often do you get to see a pink elephant in the wilderness?

Although its domesticated versions can be found in a rainbow of colors in most home gardens in Summit County, we always get a little thrill to see the Colorado columbine in the wild. The columbine is Colorado's state flower and as such is protected — it's actually against the law to remove this flower from public lands (we advise never taking any wildflower out of its natural habitat). Found in a variety of habitats (it particularly likes aspen groves), columbines are distinguished by trios of dark green, rounded leaves and the dramatic shape of its blooms, which feature sepals (large outer petals) ranging from pale lavender to deep blue with long spiky spurs protecting delicate white inner petals. As summer wanes, the plant's foliage turns a darker green and maroon, but it keeps on blooming until autumn.

Other common wildflowers in our area are red-orange indian paintbrush, red, pink, and purple stalks of lupine, and delicate wild rose bushes. Among these colorful wild treasures, however, are villains masquerading as wildflowers. These plants may look pretty but in reality are noxious weeds that can pose a real threat to native plants.

One offender is the oxeye daisy, which is part of the sunflower family. It looks innocent enough, with its sunny yellow face and bright white petals, but this weed can produce more than 500 hundred seeds per plant — which means it can reproduce quickly, depleting soil resources and crowding out other plants around it. You can tell the oxeye daisy apart from other daisy-like plants by its height (its smooth stems are one to three feet high) and large size of its flowers (around 2 inches in diameter). There are many other noxious weeds disguised as flowers (many with names straight out of a Harry Potter novel — toadflax and wormwood and henbane, oh my!),

and the Summit County Weed Management Program is a great source of information on how to identify and stop the spread of these plants. You can contact them at (970) 668-4218.

Whether you decide to put on your weed warrior hat and tackle noxious invaders, or just want to enjoy the beauty of our native floral treasures, we encourage you to get out and explore our all-too-short wildflower season now. Keep your eyes open and let us know what you find!

Seth Oglesby is a program director for Summer Camp at Keystone Science School. To learn more about the school, please contact us at (970) 468-2098 or online at www.keystonescienceschool.com.