Wildflowers are in full bloom across the country. Do you know where to view them?

With spring in full swing, chances are you’ve had flowers on the mind lately. Perhaps a getaway to see some of the finest wildflowers in the country is in order? These six places have been hailed as some of the best areas for spring and summer blossom viewing in the nation.

1. Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, California

Although the wildflower blooms in this reserve reached their peak on May 4, there are still a good number of flowers painting the hills vivid colors. Poppy fields will remain for another two weeks and two wildflowers — beavertail cacti and buckwheat — have yet to reach their height. If you’re more of the planning type, be sure to go in April, when the nearby town of Lancaster holds an annual California Poppy Festival featuring live music and family-friendly activities like camel rides.

2. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee

The most visited national park in the US, the Great Smoky Mountains covers areas across both North Carolina and Tennessee. With extensive wildflower bloom information updated multiple times a week, this national park makes it easy for you to plan the perfect time to visit and see all your favorite wildflowers. After seeing some of the 1,500 varieties of flowering plants, you’ll understand why many have nicknamed it “Wildflower National Park.”

3. Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Shenandoah National Park has over 200,000 acres of protected lands and boasts more than 850 species of wildflowers. While it’s too late to catch some of the popular flowers, including purple violets and pink lady slippers, the later spring and early summer months still bring plenty of colorful buds to take in. Keep an eye out for columbines, ox-eye daisies, and orange touch-me-nots around this time of year.

4. Fort Pierre National Grassland, South Dakota

This mixed-grass prairie covers over 100,000 acres and is a special sight in the summer when wildflowers are in full bloom. If you’re not as excited about the opportunities for spotting bluebells, bellflower, and Eastern red columbine, you can alternatively keep an eye out for some of the more lively species inhabiting the area, like prairie dogs and burrowing owls.

5. Glacier National Park, Montana

Fortunately for the latecomers to the wildflower scene, the species in Glacier National Park typically don’t peak until July and August. This may feel far into the future, but planning a trip to see the nearly 1,000 species of blossoms will be worth the wait. Make sure to get the inside scoop on which trails will be best for wildflower-viewing. If you want a flower-filled weekend you can even stay overnight in one of the park’s historic lodges or campsites.

6 White Mountains, New Hampshire

Despite this year’s polar vortex, wildflowers will still come to New Hampshire! Orchids are typically the first to blossom, kicking off wildflower season in late May. Make your travel arrangements now to come out during the 21st Annual Celebration of Lupines during the month of June in Franconia Notch. If the bright blankets of lupines covering the ground isn’t enough to convince you to book your travel now, the month will also feature a variety of ongoing and one-time events that attract crowds from far and wide.

This article originally appeared on Sierra Magazine.

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The consequences of climate change aren’t always ugly. In the Rocky Mountains, it means an extra 35 days to find and photograph gorgeous wildflowers.

Every day, I thank the universe for transplanting me to the Front Range of Colorado. All I have to do is step out on my porch, and I’m blessed with a picture perfect view of the majestic Rocky Mountains. Living here also means I get the chance to see some consequences of climate change up close and personal, like drought, out-of-control wildfires, and more recently extra flowers.

Hikers and wildflower enthusiasts flock to the Rocky Mountains from mid-May to early September, which is the best time for catching the most blooms. However, recent research shows that, thanks to climate change, an increasing number of wildflower species have altered their flowering patterns.

The study, which analyzed 39 years of data at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory near Crested Butte, Colo., found that climate change has altered the blooming season of more than two-thirds of the 60 species of native wildflowers commonly found in mountain meadows. They say wildflower season in the Rocky Mountains now lasts 35 days longer, stretching from April to mid-September.

“Previous studies largely have focused on the first appearance of flowers in the spring, but that probably underestimates the true extent of the changes they are going through,” reports the LA Times. “To go beyond that, researchers analyzed wildflower species throughout the season. They found that half of them flowered earlier, more than a third reached their peak blooms sooner and 30% flowered later into the year due to a warming climate.”

At first glance, it’s hard to think of this development as a negative thing. Who doesn’t love an extra month and five days to experience the beauty of high alpine meadows full of colorful flowers? Unfortunately, changes for one species almost always affects everything else in the ecosystem.

“We don’t know if it’s good or bad for these plant species at this point,” Amy Iler, postdoctoral biology researcher at University of Maryland and co-author of the study, told the LA Times. Impacts on already-endangered pollinator species, like bees and butterflies, has yet to be investigated.

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My husband (a.k.a. Eco Cop) will go kicking and screaming into a card store at the last minute to select a Valentine’s Day greeting for me. He is convinced that greeting cards are a consumerism scam and that card companies are profiting from the theory we are special one day of the year. Like many other eco cops, he argues the paper is wasted on sentiments that should be evergreen. I’ve had to adjust to this sort of cynicism, having sprung from a family that buys multiple cards and urges the recipient to read each one aloud.

But I think even my husband, an avid vegetable gardener, might appreciate these cards which live on not just in your heart but in your garden.

The Plantable Greeting Cards from Botanical Paperworks are designed by Kal Barteski and are printed on 100% post-consumer waste fiber and seed-embedded paper. The recipient plants the cards and, voila, wildflowers pop up faster than Jack’s beanstalk. How natural! The six cards included in the package are: Spread Joy, Breathe, Seek Peace, Live Passionately, Refresh Within and Become Happiness. What eco enthusiast wouldn’t approve of these notions?

Each card measures 4×6 inches folded and includes envelopes in brown, blue and green. $22 for the set.

If you aren’t a wildflower fan, you can opt for cards infused with herb seeds or a Plantable Seed Calendar for 2009. All of these creative and sustainable products are available at Olive Barn. Spring planting is right around the corner, so get busy and send these messages to someone you love.

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