Top 10 | Wildflower Destinations

Top Wildflower Destinations

All summer long, the fields, valleys, and riverbanks burst with colorful wildflowers.  From the deserts to the mountains, from the shore to the lake, you’ll find spectacular displays of color.  If you love wandering through fields of blooms, read on.  You’re sure to find the perfect RVing destination on this list.

Bowman Hill Wildflower Preserve, Pennsylvania
For a superb display of native plants, head to the Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve, to hike through 134 acres of gardens, meadows, and woods. You can view the 1000 species of native plants, see the pond and Pidcock Creek, and admire the birds and wildlife that love this wildflower setting. 

Crested Butte Wildflower Festival, Crested Butte, Colorado
In mid July, Crested Butte puts on a wildflower festival that’s unlike any other.  You can hike, ride horses, or take a jeep tour through lush alpine meadows, surrounded by thousands of wild blossoms.  Don’t miss the chance to see stunning bunches of Colorado’s famed wild columbines!

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Texas
This exceptional center has sixteen 16 unique gardens devoted to wildflowers and butterflies.  You can wander through the theme gardens with their 23 demonstration beds, see the Ann and O.J. Weber Butterfly Garden, and stroll through the South Meadow with its rainbow of blooms.

Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
You’ll find hillsides of purple lupine, mountain heather, asters, and penstemon at this scenic mountain park.  Visit between June and July for the best blossoms, and get out on a short hike for a full dose of color. Keep an eye out for special plants like green hellebore, fanleaf cinquefoil, pussytoes, and lacy maidenhair ferns.

Great Smoky Mountains Wildflower Pilgrimage
Every year in April, the Smoky Mountains are the prettiest place on earth.  This park, that’s often known as the “wildflower national park,” puts on a special show in the spring when ephemerals (short-flowering plants) burst with color.  Take one of their wildflower walks and look for trilliums, lady-slipper orchids, crested dwarf iris, fire pink, columbine, bleeding heart, phacelia, jack-in-the-pulpit, little brown jugs, and violets.

Sewanee Herbarium at Sewanee University, Tennessee
The trails of Shakerag Hollow at the Sewanee Herbarium lead through shady groves of nut-bearing oak and hickory trees.  You’ll find gorgeous spring flowers, beautiful woodlands, and plenty of happy bumblebees, darting from bloom to bloom.  Don’t miss the springtime blooming dogwoods!

American Basin, Colorado
Head to the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado for a grand display of colorful summer blooms.  With snow-capped mountains in the background, you’ll see fields full of purple lupine and stunning columbines.  Visit in July for the best show of color.

Bankhead National Forest, Alabama
Whether you visit in April for the wildflowers or return in later October and early November to see the leaves change, you’ll find plenty of beauty at Bankhead. Set in northwestern Alabama, this park offers dramatic rock bluffs, plenty of wildlife, and streams that cut through picturesque woods and meadows. Don’t miss the blooming trees and flowers in the spring, particularly near the park’s waterfalls.

Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, Oklahoma
See a patch of prairie in its natural state at the Tallgrass Preserve in northeastern Oklahoma.  Pay a visit in June to hike through fields of asters, coneflowers, milkweeds, and other prairie flowers.  Don’t miss the chance to see the buffalo herd that calls the preserve home!

Pawnee National Grassland, Colorado
Take a hike along the 1.5-mile Pawnee Buttes Trail, and watch for tansy asters, prairie coneflowers, tufted sandwort, and much more, all set against a backdrop of 300-foot high sandstone cliffs.  There are more than 521 different plant species in the grassland.  Visit in June for the best flower display.