Another “Three-birds” day in the Pisgah National Forest — 2020-07-22

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 of open flowers, but it signals a start of a cycle that should last about a month.

As I have mentioned in previous blog posts about this orchid species, it is a “fickle” bloomer, meaning that it blooms only when certain meteorlogical conditions have been met. A series of thunderstorms during the previous 36 hours caused the morning low temperatures to dip at least 5 degrees (F) over a period of 2 days. This seems to trigger the flower buds which are “ripe” to open.

It is with a high degree of anticipation that I arrived at the location, not knowing if my calculations were correct this time or not. The bloom schema is about 95% accurate, but it is a 1.5 hour drive for me, and I didn’t want to waste a day going up there and finding no open flowers. That is where I devised a Plan B. The Three-birds orchid site in the Pisgah National Forest is so close to the Blue Ridge Parkway that if the trip turned out to be a bust, I could always visit the Parkway to see what had changed in the week that had elapsed since I had last visited.

So, I arrived at the site, parked the truck and gathered my gear — my heart beating fast in anticipation. The walk to the place where I always see them in bloom is about 200 yards (~200 meters), and I was eager to see those little white flowers from a distance. What do you know? There was a single plant with two open flowers! Yay! I know it must sound silly, but it’s like seeing the blazing fall color for the first time each fall. It’s not new, but it is… Still, the excitement is there, and I look around to see if anyone else is around, noticing my jumping up and down.

Here is a shot of that plant:

Three-birds orchid

The site is composed of many acres of open woods with hundreds of Three-birds orchid plants scattered rather randomly here and there. I did not see any large clumps of plants this trip, but because this is the first bloom wave, any large clumps could just be camouflaged and not readily visible. Almost none of the plants, especially the single plants, are apparent unless they have open flowers or unless I know exactly where they are growing. Here are a few more shots of the plants from nearby:

After a couple of hours of wandering and searching for the best of the orchid flowers to photograph, I decided that it would be good to go ahead and drive up to the Parkway to check out what was happening with some of the sites I had recently visited. One of these was Wolf Mountain Overlook’s vertical bog.

On my way up the mountain, I spotted a flash of bubble-gum pink out of the corner of my eye. I slammed on the brakes (luckily no one was behind me), and pulled over as quickly as I could manage. It was Sabatia angularis or Common Rose Pink just starting to bloom. It should be a knock-out in the coming week or so. Besides having brightly colored flowers, the fragrance is very sweet — two for the price of one:

It was just a short trip up the mountain with thunderstorms threatening in the distance. I hoped that I would be spared the torrential rain squalls that are often met with in the mountains. Sometimes it is difficult to see what’s around the corner when the mountains block visibility. Often, the sound of thunder is the first indication that an impending storm is nearby.

I parked in the parking area for the Overlook, gathered my gear, and I headed to the base of the wet cliff face to try to spot the Gymnadeniopsis clavellata or Club-spur orchids that I had seen in bud just one week ago. I found them with no problem. Here is a shot of a small group of orchid plants in flower literally at the base of the cliff:

Here are a few more examples:

With thunder quickly approaching, I piled back into the truck to head a few miles south to another wet cliff road cut where I had photographed the Neottia smallii or Appalachian Twayblade orchids last week. They were in pretty good shape then, but I wanted to see if I could find a few of them at peak bloom: Here is what I found:

Is this fly (below) a possible pollinator? I think so, maybe… Look at the way it is positioned on the flower, just below the pollinia… I didn’t realize it was there until I processed the images.

I had one final site to visit, about 5 miles (~8 km) farther south down the Parkway. It is another wet cliff face. This seems to be a pattern for me along the parkway. But just consider the richness of the botanical treasures that await at these spots. At this site, I thought I remembered seeing signs of additional Club-spur orchid plants, but I wasn’t sure.

After arriving at the site, I pulled over onto the grassy roadside, parked the truck and gathered my gear — just in case. I crossed the road and walked a short distance to the spot where I remembered seeing the plants. Wow! there were about a dozen Club-spur orchid plants in full bloom scattered in a small area. It was quite wet, so I stopped a moment to figure out how to photograph them without getting my feet wet. Oh, what the heck! It’s only water. So I approached the plants and set up my tripod. Here is what I saw:

To my left, I spotted a large mat of Drosera rotundifolia or Round-leaf Sundew that I had somehow missed on last week’s trip. The plants were hanging on for dear life to a thin layer of mosses. The wet cliff at this point is, indeed, vertical, so it is quite remarkable that these plants manage to survive from year to year — especially when the cold temps of Winter freeze everything solid! I’m still shaking my head in wonder as I write this:

As I photographed this last one, it began to sprinkle rain, so I decided to take the hint. I gathered my gear and ran back down the road to my truck. After maneuvering a U-turn on a tight corner of the road, I headed back north toward my Blue Ridge Parkway access point, U.S. Highway 276, and back toward Brevard.

Along the way, I did have time to stop twice to capture the roadside beauty that was Phlox carolina or, wait for it………., Carolina Phlox. It is remarkable how they manage to cover the roadside in some places with a thick carpet of magenta-red scapes. Truly magnificent!:

Below, is just a small section of roadside where these plant were blooming in profusion:

One final shot of a large group of Monarda didyma or Scarlet Bee-balm, bringing some vibrant color to the greenery of the roadside:

It’s easy to see why this plant of the mint family is a favorite of gardeners, attracting butterflies as well as hummingbirds.

Another fantastic trip to western North Carolina for some Summer orchids and other wildflowers. I’m not sure if this will be my final trip in mid-Summer or not. Next month brings the fringed orchids and other neat stuff from down along the Carolina coastal plain. After that, it’s back up to the Parkway again in September for more exciting wildflower adventures — same locations, but totally different species. In addition, Fall brings us back to both the Blue Ridge Parkway as well as late Fall along the Carolina coastal plain. And who knows what might turn up before and between those trips!?!

Stay tune to more wildflower adventures…

–Jim