A second visit to a botanical wonderland this weekend ("The Pocket" on Pigeon Mountain, GA) -- along the Shirley Miller Wildflower Trail found numerous treasures in flower. The Pocket is a rich cove forest (so pH levels are nearly neutral), supporting a rich array of wildflowers.
Virginia bluebells (
Mertensia virginica) are abundant and were in flower (actively visited by bumblebees on the day we were there).
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| Mertensia virginica |
Spring beauty (
Claytonia virginica) was still in flower (it was in flower 3 weeks ago on our first visit).
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| Claytonia virginica |
Yellow trout lily (
Erythronium americanum) was in flower (younger plants and seedlings are abundant at this site). Its large flowers were impressive.
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| Erythronium americanum |
And the fiddleheads of Christmas fern were striking!
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| Christmas fern fiddleheads |
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After it has flowered the petals are closed, but have begun to wilt or dry, and are not neatly connected at the tips, or the petals have begun to fall off, leaving a round green fruit.
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