Fall gets all the attention when it comes to the amazing colors of the Wasatch Mountains. But another season almost certainly is more colorful in the Wasatch and across the rest of Utah.

Summer is wildflower season. And, according to the Cottonwood Canyons Foundation, there are 1,200 species of wildflowers on the Wasatch Front, including one found only along the Wasatch.

The Wasatch Shooting Star was known to grow in a one-square-mile area in Big Cottonwood Canyon until last year, when a team comprised of the U.S. Forest Service, Cottonwood Canyons Foundation and the Utah Native Plant Society located populations in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

To celebrate the color explosion, the Cottonwood Canyons Foundation is holding the annual Wasatch Wildflower Festival, July 17-20, in Big and Little Cottonwood canyons. The free festival includes guided wildflower and geology walks, kids arts and crafts activities, and live music.

Organizers always try to plan the festival for the peak of the wildflower season, but that proves a difficult task.

"We pick the dates in the early spring. We look at the weather conditions at that time and set the time depending on the availability of the different partners and entities," said Jessie Walthers, executive director of the non-profit group which started the festival. "Sometimes we hit the peak right on and other times we are off a week or two."

But the date hardly matters as some flowers pop up through the snow starting in the spring. Several varieties were spotted at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon on the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

"They are on target to hit the peak," said Mike Duncan, a botanist with the Uinta/Wasatch Cache National Forest. "The peak, when you may see the most flowering at one single time, hits from the mid to the end of July, at least at the higher elevations where the festival is held. But you can see flowers from the early spring and all the way into October. There is always something to see."

A wet winter and damp spring has created a lush situation for mountain vegetation. Duncan says plants will be "more robust" with more flowers and tend to be taller than during dry or normal precipitation years.

Trying to identify wildflowers along the Wasatch, even with a guidebook, is certainly intimidating. The guided walks offered during the festival are a great way to learn the basics of plant identification from experts and other enthusiasts.

"Our volunteer guides are great at helping people find and identify wildflowers and others plants. It is also a lot of fun to go in a group," Walthers said. "Volunteers make the festival possible. Make sure to thank your guide if you come up."

Here we offer an abbreviated guide to some of Utah's most common wildflowers.

brettp@sltrib.com