There’s something meditative and peaceful about quietly stepping through the natural world around us in spring, taking time to look for every different flower peeking up from the forest floor, reveling in the awakening of nature all around you.
Many years ago I began on a journey to learn how to identify plants, and it has been a life long commitment that will never be complete. I generally focus on indigenous species, and here in the Smoky Mountains I have finally dedicated enough time to my studies that there are more things I can name, than cannot. I took all of these photos in the last 48 hours with my new Canon Powershot SX420IS. Not all of them are native species, but most of them are.
I hope you enjoy your walk through my yard and woods with me. May these flowers bring you tidings of warmth, of growth, of beauty.
See the beauty around you each day, and may you bloom just as brightly as these mountain beauties shining in the springtime sun.
What a beautiful celebration of nature and the bounty that she holds. Nice to see some plants that also grow over my way. Thank you for the wonderful reminder to keep seeing the beauty that surrounds us xxx
There is indeed beauty in everything, if only we have eyes to see...
I nice assortment of flower photos!
Your spring is way ahead of ours...
We have trilliums up here, but most of them are white. Any other color is rare, until they start to fade...
Here in the Smokies we have a large variety of trilliums that come in reds, white, yellow, and "painted". I have had a lot of fun learning the different types, especially the white ones because there are several different white ones and you really have to pay attention to get the id correct. The variegated wake robin trillium in my yard actually took me 2 years to identify (and asking an expert) because its a very unusual variety and not found in a book that I know of; they are usually red or white, and the painted trillium are the only other ones I know of with that color splash.
I'm going to have to pay a lot more attention to the trilliums when they flower this year to see if there are different varieties here.
Look at several things: whether the flower is sitting above or hanging below the leaves, what the center looks like (both the stamens and the very center), and what the petals look like (thin/thick, straight/wavy, etc). I am betting if you have one kind you have several, and if you think about it let me know what you discover!
GOSH - what A glorious LOOKY-SEE at the beautiful world where you live!! I love the Trillium and the Carolina Allspice particularly.
Sometimes just taking the moments to LOOK and FEEL the beauty is all that is needed to completely pivot us into a place of admiration, appreciation and joy. Feeling that all the way over here in Thailand, just from your pics, and grateful.
I just LOVED this post! The photos were excellent and while not a lot of these grow here in New England where I am, I loved seeing what grows where you are.
Beautiful. Funny I just wrote on your comment on my post about the beautiful biodiversity in the Appalachia and then I come to see what you're up to and you hit me with this!
I miss Spring in the northern hemisphere, that's for sure. It's a more delicate but resplendant affair!
The Smokies are lovely. I have roots in the mountains and valleys of VA and WV. Always in the blood.
I have lived in several different areas of the southern Appalachians and romped around even more of them. The Smokies have a special appeal to me, this area really is unique in many ways from the rest of Appalachia in the biodiversity we have here!