Early Summer adventure on the Blue Ridge Parkway – western North Carolina — 2019-07-14

This blog post will discuss the day-long trip (about 8 hours) I made up to the Blue Ridge Parkway in western North Carolina to photograph the early Summer wildflowers. The sun was in and out when it wasn’t threatening thunderstorms, but all in all, it was a very successful day.

The star of the day’s show definitely was Lilium superbum or Turk’s-cap Lily. It seems that they are increasing in numbers from year to year. More about them later:

Turk’s-cap Lily

I began the day in upper Greenville County, South Carolina and worked my way north through the Pisgah National Forest to the Blue Ridge Parkway in the mountains of western North Carolina. As I made the turn off of Hwy. 11 onto Hwy. 276, which takes me up the Blue Ridge Escarpment, I couldn’t help but notice the spots of purple on the edge of the roadside meadow. The flowers belonged to plants of Centrosema virginiana or Spurred Butterfly Pea. I have seen these at this location in previous years, but I have not photographed them recently. They were growing in the weedy slope that lined the edge of the mowed meadow. This population stretched for about 1/10 mile (~2/10 km), and it was evident that they were doing quite well at this location. Here is a closeup of a single flower followed by a shot of the slope:

In the same area, I found a large patch of Mimosa microphylla or Littleleaf Sensitive Briar. Those tiny, purple-red “pompoms”, have a strong, spicy fragrance, but beware of the minute thorns along the edge of the stem. No wonder it’s also known as Catclaw Sensitive Briar:

I also came across the beautiful, shell-pink and sweetly fragrant Sabatia angularis or Common Rose Pink:

While walking back to the truck, I noticed some bright pink flowers blooming on the ground. I recognized it, at once, as a clover, but I didn’t know the species name. I photographed it, and after I returned home, I found out it was Trifolium pratense or Red Clover, a European introduction that is non-native, and it can be found in all of North America. If you have not seen it, it is because you are not looking… Regardless of its origin, it is an attractive wildflower:

Pretty good start for the day, eh? I packed my camera gear into the truck and headed up the road, climbing the couple of thousand feet of the Blue Ridge Escarpment toward Brevard, North Carolina and the Pisgah National Forest. Upon arriving at the site where I have found many hundreds of Triphora trianthophros or Three-birds orchids in bloom in late July, I had to dodge a group of locals working on pulling a Jeep from the deep ditch across from the orchid location. Try as they might to pull it out of the ditch, it was securely stuck. Time for a tow truck.

Back to the search… Once the pattern of the shape of the plants is imprinted on your mind, it is relatively easy to spot the 3-inch (7.5 cm) plants on the ground. I admit though, that if they are not in flower (yet), they are extremely difficult to spot even with pretty good pattern recognition, and I was very careful to watch my steps, lest I trample one of the orchid plants. I decided to photograph a couple of the plants to show you, Dear Readers, what they look like about two weeks before flowering:

As a reminder, here is an image of the Three-birds orchid in full bloom:

Scattered all over the open woods, were dozens of Tipularia discolor or Crane-fly orchids just popping out of the ground. They should be in full bloom when the Three-birds orchids decide to open up:

I made my way up the road a bit and decided to stop at a place where I had seen other interesting plants in the past. Today, I found a nice patch of Lysimachia tonsa or Fringed loosestrife:

It was now time to head on up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. My first spot to check out would be a road cut that is always loaded with Turk’s-cap Lilies. As I approached the curve in the Parkway where I have found these beautiful flowers, I found myself holding my breath, hoping that they appeared in the same place this year. As I pulled off the road, I was relieved that they were there in good numbers — their bright red-orange and yellow flowers glowing in the dappled sunlight. They look pretty good when backlit:

Although most of the flowers are orange or red-orange, there are a few of them that are almost yellow (except for the dark spots):

Finishing up with the Turk’s-cap Lilies, I packed my gear and headed south on the Parkway. The target location was Wolf Mountain Overlook, a fantastic site where many rare and unusual plant species have chosen to decorate the wet road-cut cliff face during the growing season. But before reaching the Overlook, I stopped at another wet cliff face where I’ve seen Gymnadeniopsis clavata or Club-spur orchid in the ditch in previous yearly visits. I did find a few of them growing in the ditch, but recent mowing had decimated the population by a good bit. Here is an image of one of the better specimens I found:

At this site, I also found one of the mountain plants known as Hypericum graveolens or Mountain St. Johnswort:

Before walking back to the truck, I also spotted a late-blooming Aruncus dioicus or Goat’s Beard. From a distance, the tiny flowers scattered along the stem are not individually visible, but up close, they are quite beautiful:

There were also several Lysimachia quadrifolia or Whorled Yellow Loosestrife plants in flower:

It was time to head toward my planned destination. As I approached within a mile or so, the sky turned dark and forbidding, threatening rain and wind – neither of which a photographer likes to be present during the shoot. In addition, I began to hear thunder in the distance. I could only hope that it would hold off long enough for me to shoot some wildflower pictures. I parked in the paved overlook parking area and was amazed that no one else was there. I don’t think I’ve ever been to the area and been alone. Great — no distractions! I had no sooner pulled out my camera gear that two motorcycles, a van, and two cars rolled in… That’s OK, I’ll just do my thing as if no one else had arrived.

I crossed the road and surveyed the ditch and wet cliff face for signs of wildflowers. In no time, I located several groups of small, Club-spur orchids in the ditch next to the cliff face:

Note that at the foreground of the above image, there is a clump of Parnassia asarifolia or Kidney-leaf Grass-of-Parnassus with several buds popping up from the center of each plant. As a reminder, here is what the open flowers look like in late August or early September:

I also wanted to check out the carnivorous plants that sometime decorate the wet, cliff face. This particular species is Drosera rotundifolia or Round-leaf Sundew. I didn’t have to look very hard to find some of the plants. Several of them had bloom stems, but they bloom very early in the day, and they were now done for the day:

There are quite a few locations for this carnivorous plant species in the mountains of the Carolinas, but it always strikes me as very interesting that they would choose to grow in such a seemingly harsh environment. This rock face freezes solid in Winter, what with all of the water seeping over the rocks:

There were a number of another St. Johnswort plants nestled in the ditch under the dripping water. This species is Hypericum densiflorum or Bushy St. Johnswort. When in full bloom, this shrubby plant is loaded with bright yellow flowers:

One plant that is usually overlooked at this site is Triantha glutinosa or Sticky Tofieldia. It gets its common name from the way that the tiny glands on the stem and around the flower inflorescence oozes a very sticky substance when in flower. This species is commonly found much farther north in the region of the Great Lakes and New England. This particular site is one of the most southern of its range, and therefore quite unusual. It is doing quite well in the wet ditch, and was in full bloom when I photographed it:

In the fall, the seed capsules turn bright red, and are quite a sight to see.

On the way back to the truck, I spotted a number of Diervilla sessilifolia or Southern Bush Honeysuckle. It turns out to be very common at the higher elevations on the Parkway:

Well, I was finished at the Overlook, but I was not done for the day. Last year, my friend Liz Fox had sent me an image taken about 10 miles (16 km) farther south on the Parkway. It was now sprinkling rain, and the wind had picked up considerably, but I figured that by heading south (actually west) on the Parkway, I would run out on the other side of the storm. I pulled out of the parking lot and made my way toward the next destination, keeping my eye open for anything interesting along the roadside ditches.

A few miles south on the Parkway, I passed by a large group of what looked to be Club-spur orchids in the grassy ditch. I found a place to pull off the road, got my camera gear and walked back to the spot where I had seen the flowers. Sure enough, there was a good population or two of these small, greenish-white orchids. It was now beginning to rain fairly steadily, but I would rather be out photographing the orchids rather than sitting in the truck waiting for the rain to end. Anyway, it wasn’t that bad. Here are a couple of shots of this population:

Apparently, this orchid species is quite common at elevations of 4,000 to 6,000 feet (1,200 to 1,800 meters). I was able to identify it in many additional ditch banks in the area.

As I approached the spot that Liz had so ably photographed the previous year, I found a number of additional groups of Turk’s Cap Lily — some quite impressive:

Now, it was late afternoon, and I had a few hours to drive before getting home. On the way back up the Parkway, I stopped again at Wolf Mountain Overlook and took a few shots of the clouds scuttering over the distant mountains:

I lingered at this spot for about 15 minutes, enjoying having the place to myself, and enjoying the view. I believe this portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway in western North Carolina is my favorite for wildflowers that are not on the Carolina coastal plain. The variety and diversity of flora in the area of the Southern Appalachian mountains is unsurpassed, in my opinion. I can never tire of seeing these wildflower species, even if they are the same ones year after year. It’s quite a bit like the feeling one gets of seeing the leaves turn bright colors in Autumn. We have all seen the same scenes ever year, but it never becomes tiresome.

We shall be seeing more wildflowers in the Southern Appalachian mountains in upcoming blog reports.

Until then…

–Jim