For flower enthusiasts, it might as well be Christmas around Drowsy Water Ranch. With our beautiful wildflowers blooming all over the ranch and the trails, our horseback rides are a real treat.
And the star of this wildflower-holiday-season is the Columbine. The state flower, commonly known as the Rocky Mountain Columbine or the Colorado Columbine, is a marvelous lavender, white, and gold flower. The flower was discovered on Pike’s Peak in 1820 by mountain climber Edwin James. The flower was then unofficially adopted as the Colorado state flower in 1891 when Colorado school children voted on their favorite flower. In 1899, a Colorado Women’s club in Cripple Creek went to work to make the adoption official. In 1925, the Colorado General Assembly approved a bill that made it illegal to uproot the flower on public land and limited the gathering of blossoms and buds to 25 in one day.
The lavender, white, and gold of the Colorado species symbolizes the sky, the snow, and Colorado’s rich mining history, respectively. Columbines come in 70 different species and also bloom in shades violet, red, yellow, and white. The flowers rich aroma attracts bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies to it’s nectar.
Come check out our Columbines at Drowsy Water Ranch.