A rare flower is in a superbloom in the Rocky Mountains
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By Ayesha Rascoe

Sunday, July 5, 2026 • 8:04 AM EDT

Heard on Weekend Edition Sunday Transcript
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

This summer, Mother Nature has decided to put on a rare show in the Rocky Mountains. A very special wildflower, the green gentians, are in a major super bloom in the alpine meadows of Colorado. But these blooms are hard-won. The gentians grow for decades and bloom briefly. Then they die, never to bloom again. David Inouye is a researcher at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. He's been studying green gentians since the '70s, and he joins us now. Welcome, David.

DAVID INOUYE: Thank you. I'm happy to be here.

RASCOE: So take me back to 1973. There was a green gentian bloom like this one that caused you to start studying these flowers. What did you see?

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