“Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty if only we have the eyes to see them.”
~John Ruskin.
Below are a few of the wonderful wildflowers I saw along that AT from Bearwallow Gap (Buchanan, VA) to Long Mountain Wayside (Buena Vista, VA) in mid-June.
White bergamot is also known as monarda or bee balm. Sweet-smelling, this flower is a favorite of butterflies.
One section of the trail had a huge lightly forested field of these wild hydrangeas. Just like the ones growing in gardens, the wild variety prefer shade and can be used in flower arrangements. Walking through an acre or more of them is a really special experience!
This is coreopsis. I’ll grow something very similar to this in my garden! The sunny blooms are certainly cheerful.
Ground Cedar isn’t really a wildflower. A type of clubmoss, it makes beautiful trail side undergrowth. It is only about 4 inches tall and was once widely harvested and sold as Christmas greenery. In the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, the plant is locally known as “Bear’s Paw”.
The funny thing about Whorled Loosestrife is that the flowers appear to grow horizontally! They actually just grow on long stocks from the reef whorls. It is common in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
This spectacular flower is in the hoarypea family. I couldn’t find anything more about it, but it may be a type of goat’s rue. The names of some flowers are certainly different! I’d love to know the history of the name.
New Jersey Tea is a shrub that is often found in suburban gardens. It attracts hummingbirds and butterflies. The dried leaves were used as a tea substitute, though without the caffeine, in American Revolutionary War times.
Galax is a lovely evergreen plant with heart-shaped leaves. While the spiky flowers are lovely, the plant is best-known for its foliage, which is often used by florists in Christmas decorations. The city of Galax, Virginia, is named after this plant!
Very very small, striped wintergreen is quite common along the trail. I loved seeing the striped leaves and the dainty nodding upside-down flower. It is a medicinal plant— Native Americans used its leaves in a tea to treat rheumatism and stomach problems, and crushed leaves were used as a poultice. Deer do not eat it, so I may try to buy some for my yard!
Day lilies, just like the ones in your garden! I love seeing these in the wild!