I had the morning open to do some fun things, so I thought about what might be blooming nearby. This is the time of year for fall wildflowers in an upstate South Carolina heritage preserve which I consider one of my favorites — Eva Russell Chandler Heritage Preserve, in northern Greenville County, South Carolina. It

Recently, I’ve had a number of people ask me about Ponthieva racemosa or the Shadow-witch orchid. Just in time for Halloween, this strange little orchid blooms in profusion along the South Carolina coastal plain in the Francis Marion National Forest. I do not know how it got its common name, but it is one strange

The end of September always provides some awesome wildflowers, especially along the roadsides of the Blue Ridge Parkway in western North Carolina. As the title of this blog post indicates, these wildflowers are Gentians and Ladies-tresses orchids. The first foray for these beauties was made during a re-supply trip to our mountain cabin on September

Late Summer, in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, brings with her a strong and varied color palette. The variety of wildflowers found in the Pisgah National Forest and along the Blue Ridge Parkway is just amazing. I began my morning preparing for a full day of botanizing, not completely expecting the onslaught of heavy traffic due,

I’m getting too old for this, I think… The most recent post showing the images I made on the first day of my two-day adventure has been deleted by mistake, and there is no way to recover it. My bad. For those of you who were quick enough to view it — great! For the

Well, I thought I had the bloom pattern for Triphora trianthophoros or Three-birds orchid tied up in a nice bow, but boy was I wrong! All the signs pointed to another wave of blooms today, so I told a friend about it so that he could see them. Although I have photographed the first two

Tsunami: an arrival or occurrence of something in overwhelming quantities or amounts. This second wave of Triphora trianthophoros or Three-birds orchids could be considered a tsunami of orchids. It is said that the second wave of a tsunami is the largest, and that is the case for what I saw today. Let’s start at the

After watching the weather map for my favorite Triphora trianthophoros or Three-birds orchid location in the Pisgah National Forest near Brevard, North Carolina, I saw the signs that this day should be a bloom day — the first wave of blooms for this season. The first wave is never the largest in terms of number

The Blue Ridge Parkway in western North Carolina is such a magical place for wildflowers that I just cannot hold myself back from visiting more than once during mid-Summer. The region experienced an awful lot of rain during the Winter and Spring, but late June and so far in July, it has been very dry.