The Flatirons from Chautauqua

This beautiful flower goes by several common names: yellow pea, false lupine, golden pea, and buck bean. Botanists call it thermopsis montana. In May, 2001, it was growing in profusion in Chautauqua meadow with Boulder’s Flatirons rising above. I returned on five separate mornings to photograph the lush fields, but this, my favorite image, was shot on my last try. Three days after shooting it, a powerful spring snowstorm buried the flowers under three inches of snow and the Chautauqua meadow wildflower season was over for another year. Ah, springtime in the Rockies!