Wildflowers in Vermont 2025

Delicate wildflowers add color and fragrance to Vermont landscapes in spring and summer

Best time: April–August

Every spring Vermont’s lush nature is awakened with beautiful wildflowers throughout forests, meadows, and even suburbs. To see the first gentle signs of spring, step into the woods and keep your eyes low so as not to miss tiny white and pink beauties, such as trout lilies, white trillium, and bloodroot. Spring wildflowers usually appear from April through June. Summer is the time to explore mountainous areas and alpine meadows for rhododendrons, mountain ravens, and dwarf cinquefoil. Lupins add delightful purple accents at the foothills. The peak summer bloom in Vermont occurs in July.

Gleason Brook Falls

Gleason Brook features lush forests and a picturesque waterfall trail that is famous for its early spring flowers. You can also walk the oldest long-distance hiking trail in America—the Green Mountain Club Long Trail—that stretches through forested areas into the mountains. In the Gleason Brook area, you can take Duxbury Window and Gleason Brook Bridge hikes on the Long Trail, both of which start on Duxbury Road in Bolton.

Stowe and Mount Mansfield

The area around the ski resort of Stowe and Mount Mansfield, the highest peak of Vermont, is famous for its outstanding flora, and, especially, Alpine meadow plants. Take a ride on the Stowe Mountain Resort gondola or hike to the scenic Mount Mansfield summit. On the top, enjoy panoramic views and spot rare flowers such as diapensia, leatherleaf, lowbush blueberry, mountain cranberry, and a tender pistil. The flowers are most abundant during late summer.

Wild Orchids

The New England region is famous for its wild orchids, and luckily Vermont has plenty of bogs where you can find these rare beauties. The best time for an orchard-spotting hike is in mid-June. Pink lady-slippers are most common in Chickering Bog, East Montpelier, where you can take a hike through a boardwalk traversing the fen wetland. Another famous area is Eshqua Bog Natural Area near Woodstock. Get on the boardwalk through the bog to spot white bog orchids and beautiful lady-slippers.