About Us

The first hike I did with the CMC was a wildflower hike at Lake Isabelle in August of 2006. I had never seen so many beautiful flowers and in such variety. I not only wanted to preserve their images to show my family and friends the beauty to be seen in the mountains, but I wanted to study them and find out all about them too. I wanted to be able to see one in the wild and know it’s name. I’m glad to share with you these beautiful flowers I love to collect.

After vacationing in Colorado for 50 years, I finally managed to retire here in Fort Collins in 2003. The mountains have always been the attraction for me so I spend most of my time hiking, cycling, and skiing all around the western regions of the state. I always have my camera with me while hiking and take lots of photos, mostly of wild flowers. I find it challenging to later research the flowers I've photographed when I come home so that I can identify my photos for future reference. The simple beauty of so many different kinds of wild flowers brings much joy to me during the time I spend outdoors.

Jan L. Turner received a M.S. in biological sciences from Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, and has a M.A. in library science from the University of Denver. She is a Reference Librarian & Associate Professor at Regis University in Denver and taught the Colorado State University Extension Native Plant Master Program.

Charlie Turner is Advisory Scientist with Washington TRU Solutions. He has a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Colorado and has worked more than 20 years in the environmental chemistry and compliance arena. He worked at the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons plant during the environmental cleanup and restoration of the land. His passion is wildflower photography with emphasis on native wildflowers of the Southwest.

Charlie and Jan are past president of the Colorado Native Plant Society and on the CONPS Board of Directors. They are also authors of Wildflowers of Canyon de Chelly and Wildflowers of Mesa Verde, and Wildflowers of Red Rocks Park. Books are available at http://www.rabbitbrushpublishing.com/

Yongli is a librarian at Colorado State University Libraries. For her, Colorado is the best place to live because she loves mountains, wildflowers, hiking, skiing, fishing and biking that Colorado offers. In 2006 she coded the Kansas Wildflower Wildflowers and Grasses site. When she moved to Colorado in 2007, she started taking pictures of Colorado wildflowers and decided to create a site for them. She is not a flower expert but she has an easy access to many books that can help her to get familiar with plants. If you found any errors on this website or you have any suggestions to improve the site, please email her.

When Yongli was a student of University of Iowa, she saw many Colorado postcards and calendars with slopes covered in wildflowers. She was so amazed by the beauty of Colorado that she started visiting Colorado every summer wishing to find places like those on the postcards. She did not have much luck until she went to the San Juan Mountains, which is her favorite area. Now she lives in Colorado and spends almost all weekends in mountains. She has found many great places outside of the San Juan Mountains for Colorado wildflower viewing. For photos she contributed, she tried to provide as much details as possible, wishing you can follow trail maps to visit the same locations.