Explosion of Spring wildflowers in Polk County, North Carolina — 2020-03-26

In South Carolina, as I write this, we have not received a shelter-in-place order. Although we are not going out and exposing ourselves in multi-person situations, I decided that it was relatively safe to visit one of the premier Spring wildflower sites in the region — Pearson Falls Road in Polk County, North Carolina. I met my good friend, Bill Robertson, who is an accomplished author and master photographer. It is impossible to go into any doctor’s office, medical facility, or hospital in the area and not see his beautifully framed artwork on the walls. It was a pleasure to be out of the house and to share the great out-of-doors with him on this field trip.

The first site we visited was a trail near Pearson’s Falls preserve. Note: the road is called Pearson Falls Road (no apostrophe “s”), but the falls is Pearson’s Falls. Go figure… Anyway, we met about 10:00 AM and wasted no time getting on the trail. Bill calls this spot “The Mother Lode” because of the huge number of wildflowers that bloom there in the spring. The day was heavily overcast, and the diffused light was perfect for wildflower photography.

This area is known for its abundant show of Spring Trillium species — especially Trillium simile or Sweet White Trillium, Trillium cuneatum or Little Sweet Betsy, and Trillium grandiflorum or Large-flowered Trillium. In addition to the Trillium species, there are many dozens of other, rich mountain cove species. As we proceeded up the trail, we began to see the proliferation of Sweet White Trillium on the hillsides.

Although the first images I made were of the Trillium flowers, I’m going to lead off with the flowers of a strange, but beautiful ground-loving plant we found in abundance: Asarum acuminatum [formerly Asarum canadense] or Canada Wild Ginger. This species is generally a more northern species found in eastern North America. As with its cousins, the Hexastylis or Heartleaf genus of plants, its flowers are produced at ground level. This makes it somewhat challenging to photograph them without getting up close and personal with the leaf litter. Fortunately, I found a large, moss-covered boulder that provided perfect habitat for a large colony of these plants at about eye level.

Note: Shortly after I published this blog post, my good friend and SC State Botanist Keith Bradley pointed out that the variable species with the botanical name formerly known as Asarum canadense has been split into several different species, and the one I have posted is now Asarum acuminata. Thank you for the information, Keith!

Canada Wild Ginger

Another beautiful plant was just beginning to bloom. Its lavender flowers form in clusters on a tall stem with fern-like leaves. The name of the plant species is Phacelia bipinnatifida or Fernleaf Phacelia:

As I walked down the trail, the array of wildflowers was just stunning. I wish that a wide-angle shot could portray the spectacle that we viewed, but I’ve never been able to capture that kind of shot. I did manage to take a shot of the Sweet White Trillium across the creek, but it does not do the scene justice. These drifts of Trillium stretched up the hillside as far as I could see, and it stretched along the trail for a long distance:

Here is what the flower looks like a bit closer:

At one particular spot, there were a number of Dicentra cucullaria or Dutchman’s breeches, many of which were bloomed out, but I did find a few that were still in pretty good shape:

After rounding a curve in the trail, I spotted some yellow flowers near the forest floor. They were the larger of our Trout Lily species, Erythronium americanum or American Trout Lily. I know I’ve included Trout Lilies in my previous two blog reports, but these were especially nice, so I’m including them here:

We kept seeing a ton of pinkish buds belonging to Claytonia virginica or Virginia Spring Beauty, but they didn’t open up until around noon. It was worth the wait!:

As we approached a small creek, the plant associations changed. Now, we began to see a large number of Tiarella cordifolia or Foam Flower. This delicate plant has spikes of white flowers with stamens showing in a variety of colors:

In the damp leaf litter beside the creek were dozens of Arisaema triphyllum or Jack-in-the-pulpit. These were the ones with striking contrast of dark stripes against a greenish white background:

For some reason, there are always a large number of Violets at this location. The majority of them consist of two species: the bright white Viola canadensis or Canada Violet and the bright yellow Viola pubescens or Downy Yellow Violet.

Leaving the creek side and going uphill again, we began to see another rather common Trillium, at least in our region: Trillium cuneatum or Little Sweet Betsy. This particular species produces a wide variety of flame-like flower petals in maroon to mahogany color shades:

Although we saw almost a dozen more species at this particular site, I’ll just mention one other: Prosartes lanuginosa or Yellow Fairybells aka Yellow Mandarin:

We finished up at this site and walked back up the trail to our vehicles. I told Bill that I wanted to drive up the road about a couple of miles to Pearson Falls Road, where there were two other species that I wanted to photograph. He said he would meet me. So, I drove to the location, parked the truck beside the gravel road and had my lunch. As I was eating my ham sandwich, I looked across the road and saw a lovely group of Trillium grandiflorum or Large-flowered Trillium. I could hardly wait to finish my meal!

Gathering my camera gear, I walked across the road and set up to photograph this group of bright white flowers:

Here is a closer shot of two of those flowers:

Nice, eh?

But there was one last species I wanted to get before I left. The sun was breaking through the clouds, and I was afraid that I would be dealing with harsh shadows, etc. The patch of Uvularia grandiflora or Large-flowered Bellwort was just up the road, as I remembered, so I packed my gear and proceeded to the spot.

Just as I arrived, the sun broke through the clouds and lit up the hillside. Well, I would just have to make do. So, I set up and photographed several plants with those bright yellow, dangling flowers:

Wow! What a day! It was so good to get out of the house and commune with nature once again. It was good to see my friend, Bill, as well.

Depending on what the South Carolina governor does about the coronavirus in the near future, I may not be able to go out again for some time, so I need to prepare myself for some cabin fever. This is the beginning of the Spring wildflower season in our area, but remaining safe is more important.

I hope that each of you and your families are well and are finding a way through this dreadful time in our lives. I hope that by sharing my blog and photography it will, perhaps, bring a little light into your life. Hopefully, there will be more to come…

Until then,

–Jim