Mule & Magpie is rooted in field notes, folklore, regional history, seasonal observation, music, memory, and time spent wandering the foothills, mesas, forests, prairie, and mountain towns of Colorado and the American West.

The illustrations, writings, and photographs shared here are shaped by many sources: historical archives, oral histories, botanical guides, museums, songs, local legends, libraries, conversations, old photographs, ranger talks, handwritten notes, weathered gravestones, roadside markers, and countless hours spent outdoors observing the changing seasons.

While many pieces are imaginative or interpretive, I care deeply about honoring the people, plants, places, and histories that inspire them. I continue learning as this project grows.

Botanical + Field Guide Sources

Research and identification references include a combination of field guides, native plant resources, herbarium collections, conservation organizations, and regional ecology materials.

Selected references include:

  • [FIELD GUIDE TITLE] — [AUTHOR]

  • [BOTANICAL GUIDE TITLE] — [AUTHOR]

  • [NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY]

  • [UNIVERSITY HERBARIUM OR COLLECTION]

  • [STATE OR NATIONAL PARK RESOURCE]

  • [FOREST SERVICE OR BLM RESOURCE]

  • [WILDFLOWER DATABASE / WEBSITE]

Bloom periods, elevation ranges, colors, and growing conditions can vary significantly from season to season depending on snowpack, drought, rainfall, wildfire, and climate conditions.

Mistakes are always possible, and plant identification is an ongoing learning process. If something has been misidentified or lacks important ecological context, thoughtful corrections are welcome.

Ethical Observation + Conservation

Please avoid picking rare flowers, trampling alpine tundra, disturbing cryptobiotic soil, or sharing sensitive locations for threatened species. Leave plants, seeds, rocks, and artifacts where they are whenever possible.

Many of the landscapes represented here are increasingly affected by development, drought, wildfire, overcrowding, invasive species, and climate change. Protecting native habitats matters.

This project encourages observation, curiosity, reverence, and stewardship over collection or extraction.

Indigenous Knowledge + Land Acknowledgement

The landscapes represented throughout this project exist on ancestral Indigenous homelands.

Many plants in the American West carry long histories of medicinal, ceremonial, ecological, and cultural knowledge held by Indigenous communities long before modern field guides or settler naming systems existed.

This project does not attempt to teach Indigenous plant knowledge, and any references to traditional uses are approached cautiously and with respect. I continue learning from Indigenous writers, botanists, educators, and cultural organizations whose work offers deeper understanding of these landscapes and relationships.

With Gratitude

Thank you to:

  • botanists, ecologists, and naturalists who dedicate their lives to studying native plants

  • park staff, trail crews, and conservation workers protecting public lands

  • native plant societies and herbarium archivists preserving ecological knowledge

  • photographers, hikers, gardeners, and amateur naturalists who generously share observations and identifications

  • friends and family who patiently stop for “just one more flower photo”

  • and to the landscapes themselves, which continue to reward slowness, attention, and wonder

The wildflower guide is always evolving, just like the seasons that shape it.

— Kris