WILDFLOWERS: - The Seasons - The Chase - The Film

SPRING: "The Early Show" - Most of the colors of Spring wildflowers are muted pastels. Many of the early wildflowers are 'Spring Ephemerals.' These will bloom beneath bare trees and return the following year. Once these plants are shaded from the sun, many will nearly disappear. One popular Spring wildflower is the white 'Fringed Phacelia' (shown) but it is actually an annual that will die back by summer, leaving behind only seeds. Other favorites are Trilliums (white, pink, burgundy), Trout Lily (yellow), Blue Cohash, Yellow Mandarin, Squirrel Corn, Dutchman's Breeches, Bluets, False & Smooth Solomon Seal (all whites), Lady's Slipper Orchids (yellow or pink), Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Flame Azalea (orange), Dwarf Crested Iris (purple), Silverbells (white), Spring Beauty (white/pink) and many more. 

SUMMER: "The Summer Heat" lures many pollinators, such as butterflies, skippers, and hummingbirds. Summer flowers may be brighter, sporting more brilliant yellows, oranges, reds and purples, and there will also be whites and blues as well. Many favor the bright sun in meadows, fields, and roadsides. These would include Black-Eyed Susans (yellow), Cardinal Flower (red), Common Milkweed (pink), Pale Jewelweed (yellow), Purple Phacelia, Spotted Jewelweed (orange), Pink Turtlehead and Joe Pye Weed (both pink), Southern Harebell (blue), Coneflower (yellow or white), Flame Azalea (higher elevations, orange), Indian Paintbrush (red), Sunflowers (yellow), Turks Cap Lily (orange),  Butterfly Weed (shown) attracts butterflies and hummers in July's Cades Cove fields. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, also known as "The Wildflower Park" puts on quite a show of many different types of wildflowers in Spring, Summer and Fall - Amazing! You will see them everywhere!

AUTUMN: "The Triple Color Show" - Wildflowers are found in all parts of the country, but the wildflowers we are familiar with grow in the southern mountains - the Appalachian Mountain Range, and its Blue Ridge Mountains, and more narrowly, the Great Smoky Mountains. Autumn in the southern mountains is particularly exciting, because you can find color three ways: in still-blooming late summer wildflowers, in new autumn wildflowers, and in autumn leaves. It's our last chance to find most wildflowers in bloom before the temperatures drop too much before winter. Asters (blue) and Hearts a'Busting (red) are a welcome sight. The most vibrant leaf colors are due to warm days and cold nights, with sufficient moisture, no drought in summer, and no early frost. October is a prime month for color. With red and gold leaves falling from Maples and Birches, you will have expansive views of the surrounding mountains, revealing excellent landscape photography opportunities. 

WINTER? We have not yet seen wildflowers blooming in Winter in the southern mountains - but they are there: Witch Hazel (yellow - October to January), and Hepatica (pink or white - February). 

THE CHASE: "Search High and Low" - Seasonal changes in the southern mountains can occur at different times and at different elevations. What this means to a wildflower fanatic or a leaf peeper is that if you miss something blooming or fall color in trees at one elevation, you can literally 'chase the color' up or down the mountain. If you are in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, for instance, and you miss the Flame Azaleas and Rhododendrons blooming in the lower elevations, you can find them in full bloom up on the high mountain meadows such as Gregory's Bald. Conversely, leaves begin to change color up higher earlier in fall, while trees are still mostly green in the lower elevations. Remember that winter comes earlier on the peaks than down in the valleys. Chasing color up or down the mountains is the best way to find the colors you are searching for, in both wildflowers and in leaves. 

THE FILM: "Something Sat On It!" - Our studio is about 45 minutes from the Appalachians in north Georgia, so it was easy to scout out wildflower locations there for planning and to check on plant progress before Spring. In all four seasons we trekked mountains and forests there (Blood Mountain, Tray Mountain, and Slaughter Mountain, many trails such as Rabun Cliff Falls Trail, Sosebee Cove, Hog Pen Gap & Wolf Pen Gap Trails, plus in Chattahoochee National Forest, and on Pigeon Mountain in the northwest) as well as Tennessee's and North Carolina's Smokies - Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Appalachian Trail. (We also hiked Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, North Carolina.) We sometimes returned to an area only to find that some plants were crushed or eaten, or a late snow had fallen on them. But the plants were tough and determined and so were we! To obtain the film for our wildflower documentary, we hiked and filmed through 6 years and 24 seasons, hit or miss, on weekends or days off work from our other jobs, but sometimes we got lucky and had a great day of blooms. We hope you like our wildflower documentary! 

Link here for more details:

"THE STORY OF WILDFLOWERS OF THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS" 

Purchase this triple award-winning documentary on DVD singly or in a discounted collection!

160+ FLOWERING PLANTS, SHRUBS, VINES, AND TREES!