On my way back home from southeast Georgia this past weekend, I had to make a decision whether or not to take a detour to revisit the Francis Marion National Forest near Charleston, South Carolina. It would be about 4 hours out of my way, but I would have the chance to see South Carolina’s

The 6-hour drive down from my home in Greenville, South Carolina to southeast Georgia (within a few miles of the Florida border) was fairly uneventful. However, when I reached the motel at 3:30 pm, it was 102 degrees F (39 degrees C), and the humidity was astronomically high. Fortunately, I didn’t have any plans to

After leaving the Francis Marion National Forest on Saturday afternoon (in pouring rain, I might add), we made our way to Shallotte (pronounced Shah-LOTE), North Carolina where we would spend the night. On the agenda for Sunday, would be a visit to the Green Swamp Preserve and a few areas east of there in Boiling

On July 22, I offered (via a posting on the Native Orchid Conference message board) a guided field trip to both the Francis Marion National Forest (FMNF) and the Green Swamp Preserve (GS) to the first eight people who wanted to sign up. I received emails from several interested parties, but in the end, only

I will take this opportunity to warn you that this blog post contains lots of food for thought for native orchid geeks. You have now been warned… I had recently heard from Matt Richards, the Conservation Coordinator at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, about his planned visit to southeast Georgia to monitor several small populations of

On July 27, 2014 my Atlanta, Georgia photographer buddy, Alan Cressler and I made a day trip up to the Blue Ridge Parkway to see what botanical treasures we could find. Rather than take the usual route up I-26 to approach the Blue Ridge Parkway outside of Hendersonville, North Carolina I decided to head up U.S. Hwy

The same day I visited the Pisgah National Forest near Brevard, North Carolina for Triphora trianthophora or Three-birds orchids, I made an additional trip down a nearby Forest Service Road, deeper into the forest. My friend Neil Jacobs had told me about this spot several years ago, and I make it a point to visit

Well folks, I am so excited! Today, I went to an area of the Pisgah National Forest north of Brevard, North Carolina in search of some mid-summer orchids — specifically, Platanthera ciliaris or Yellow Fringed orchid and Spiranthes lacera var. gracilis or Southern Slender Ladies’-tresses orchid. I did actually find those two species in bloom,