Craggy Gardens

Craggy Gardens, a popular area on the Blue Ridge Parkway, is interlaced with great trails that take hikers through the rhododendrons and grassy open gaps, as well as surrounding forests along the Mountains to the Sea trail and other trails.

A roadside meadow by the trailhead glowed with Rudbeckia, Coreopsis and Phlox, with slopes nearby puctuated with Silene virginica and Campanulastrum americana (formerly Campanula).

Woody enjoyed the cooler temperatures at higher elevations, as well as his first hike in the woods!

Wildflowers along the Blue Ridge Parkway

One of the benefits (totally) of being in the Southern Appalachians for the summer is proximity to great trails.  I joke to friends and colleagues during the academic year that "they don't let me out much" meaning that I'm at the Garden all the time, not out hiking.  But nothing to complain about that really.

Squaw root (Conopholis spp.)

But it was a joy to spend time on the Mountains to the Sea trail this morning, on a segment just off the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Silene virginica on a rock outcrop

a checker spot (?) basking on a Crateagus branch

There were lots of plants in flower, even though we're past the 'main' spring wildflower time.

Bowman's Root (Poteranthus), Fire Pink (Silene virginica), and Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) as well as Flame Azalea were in flower.

Kalmia latifolia (Mountain Laurel) in flower

Sedums, Tradenscantia, and Opuntia were on the rock outcrops, segregating themselves to wet and dry areas.

Blue Ridge Parkway views

Fall color in the North Carolina mountains is becoming apparent.  At mid-elevations along the Blue Ridge Parkway, the color is spectacular.  Higher up, it's still early; lower down, drought stress may diminish the usual clear yellows, defaulting to brown.

Hemlocks are gray ghosts, felled by woolly adelgids

But yesterday, it was spectacular north of Devil's Courthouse and Graveyard Fields.

A morning on the Blue Ridge parkway

A wonderful aspect of being in the NC mountains is the proximity to the Southern Appalachians.

They're an ancient mountain range, noted for biodiversity of many species. A special aspect is the Blue Ridge Parkway, part of our National Park System, a long road that stretches from Shenondoah National Park in Virginia to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina.

An early morning walk had us ascending from Asheville (where the afternoon high would be close to ninety) to a foggy Craggy Gardens, well-known for the June Catawba rhododendron display.

Surprisingly, it was cool and foggy. Amazing. The temperature was close to 60° F.

This small bumblebee was still sleeping in a Catawba rhododenron flower. Check out the poricidal anthers characteristic of plants in the Ericaceae (the Heath or Blueberry family) -- just click on the photo for a closer look.