Discover Wildflowers

Penstemon wildflowers growing along the road to Sunrise.

NPS Photo

 

Mount Rainer's renowned wildflowers bloom for a limited amount of time every year. The "peak" bloom for wildflowers is heavily dependent on weather and precipitation patterns, so accurate predictions are difficult. In most years, many flowers will be blooming by mid-July, and by the first of August the meadows should be very impressive. Frost can occur by late August, but even after light frosts the meadows continue to be very beautiful, thanks to changing leaf colors and seed pod development that take the place of colorful blossoms.

For a better idea of what the wildflowers are doing this year, please see the Currently Blooming section below, which summarizes what's blooming where.

Explore further:

• Wildflower Guide - Unfamiliar with Mount Rainier's wildflowers? Photos and brief descriptions of some of the common wildflower species can be found in the park's online wildflower guide.
• Wildflower photo galleries - Collections of subalpine and forest wildflowers.
• Wildflower video gallery - Preview Mount Rainier's blooming wildflower meadows by watching these short videos.
• The Seasons of Mount Rainier - View short videos of different plants found in various parts of the park.
• Ecological Restoration - Watch short videos about the Ecological Restoration program's work in the park.

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NPS Photo of a glacier lily at Paradise, 6/4/26.

NPS Photo

Currently Blooming

Last Updated: June 15, 2026
Subalpine meadows like Paradise still have significant snow cover, but snow is melting out fast. Glacier lilies (Erythronium grandiflorum) are some of the earliest subalpine wildflowers to start blooming, sometimes even pushing through snow! This head start gives glacier lilies an advantage in pollinating and reproducing before other wildflowers have even started growing. The closely related avalanche lilies, which have white petals with a yellow center, also bloom early in the season. Look for these lilies throughout the subalpine areas of the park.

Please stay on the trails.

As snow continues to melt away, it may be tempting to skirt remaining patches of snow or mud that are covering trails. However, by going off trail you are walking on and damaging the wildflowers that you may be coming to see! It is better to stay on the trail even if that means crossing snow, particularly in the high-visitation meadows around Paradise and Sunrise. Also, there are plenty of opportunities for the perfect mountain + wildflower photo from the trails! No need to step off trail and crush other flowers in your quest for the perfect shot.

 

Wildflower Reports

Longmire Area	Paradise Area
Trail of the Shadows and around Longmire (6/11) - three-leaf anemone, piggyback plant, bunchberry, trailing blackberry, thimbleberry, whitebark raspberry, leafy mitrewort, rusty saxifrage, littleleaf miner's-lettuce, smooth alumroot, lupine, spotted coralroot, western coralroot, pinesap, star-flowered false Solomon's seal, five leafed bramble, thyme-leaf speedwell, devil's club, slender bog orchid, pink wintergreen (early), starflower, bear grass, largeleaf avens, Alaska violet, foam flower, small-flowered buttercup Nisqually Entrance-Longmire Road (6/8) - vanilla leaf, scouler's corydalis, columbine, bunchberry, three-leaved anemone, cow parsnip, thimbleberry, lupine, large-leaf avens Longmire-Paradise Road (6/4) - vanilla leaf, bear grass, marsh marigold, lupine, cliff paintbrush, cliff penstemon, phlox (near Canyon Rim viewpoint), Sitka mountain ash (early)	Paradise Valley Road (6/15) - glacier lilies, avalanche lilies, pasqueflower, Jeffrey's shooting stars, marsh marigold, yellow violets Paradise Meadows (6/4) - Still mostly snow-covered at higher elevations, but early season wildflowers emerging in melted areas include: marsh marigold, subalpine buttercup, avalanche lily, glacier lily, magenta paintbrush, pasqueflower, yellow violets, cinquefoil (early)
Around the park	Sunrise Area
Stevens Canyon Road (6/15) - phlox, avalanche lilies, glacier lilies, false Solomon's seal, cinquefoil, harsh paintbrush, magenta paintbrush, cliff penstemon, Menzie's penstemon, Sitka valerian, Sitka mountain ash, red elderberry, Oregon sunshine, silverback lunia, columbine, rusty saxifrage, redstem ceanothus, trailing blackberry, yarrow, rosy spirea, tall bluebells Box Canyon (6/12) - rosy spirea, Cascade penstemon, spotted coralroot, mountain monkeyflower, rockslide larkspur, rusty saxifrage, star-flowered false Solomons seal (late), bunchberry, Oregon bedstraw, devil's club, starflower	Not yet open for the season. Check back for updates later in the summer!

 

Red Columbine Flower

NPS Photo / Filo Merid

Wildflower Photos

The photos featured here are usually taken by park staff and volunteers from all over the park. Share your own wildflower photos in the Mount Rainier Flickr group! Higher resolution versions of wildflower photos are available on Mount Rainier's Flickr page.

Plan Your Visit

Paradise and Sunrise are two of the main visitor center areas at Mount Rainier National Park. Both areas are well known for their impressive wildflower meadows. The park also maintains dozens of trails perfect for wildflower viewing.

 

 

Meadow Preservation Enjoy wildflowers? Stay on trails