If you have been keeping up with this nature blog over the years, you will know that this time of year takes me to one of South Carolina’s premier, but little known, Heritage Preserves. It’s called Watson-Cooper Heritage Preserve, and it hosts the Southeast’s largest population of the rare and threatened Helonias bullata or Swamp

This post is pretty long, so before you begin, go get yourself an adult beverage and some snacks. Here goes… Recently, I received an email from a man whom I have known for a long time but have never met. His name is Shannon Spurling, and he is quite the naturalist. Due to his persistence

Hey Folks, this initial message went out to all of my subscribers a few days ago. I realize now that some of you did not get this message. I have been working with the design team at my hosting site, HostPapa.com, for the past month to revamp the functionality of my blog, and there have

A few years ago, my good friend, Kelvin Taylor (aka “KT”) posted some excellent images of Trillium pusillum or Carolina Least Trillium which he had been studying at a preserve called Turkey Creek Preserve near the small town of Middlesex, Nash County, North Carolina. This is not a Trillium species that I see with any

Welcome to 2021! This is the beginning of my 9th year of Jim’s Nature Blog. I had actually considered shutting it down at the end of 2020, but I think I’ve still got a couple of more years in me to keep it going. I’m not promising a lot of new stuff this year, but

Warning: This will be a lengthy post, so settle back with an adult beverage and enjoy… After spending the night at a motel in Little River, South Carolina, we awoke bright and bushy-tailed, got dressed and ate our meager continental breakfast. With fresh memories of the previous day’s field trip in the Francis Marion National

The cusp of October/November is the time of year for the last gasp of wildflowers along the Atlantic Coastal Plain of the Carolinas. I always get a big kick out of visiting my favorite swampy, boggy, mucky areas in the Francis Marion National Forest, where the last of the fall orchids, Spiranthes odorata or Fragrant

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