by hankinslawrenceimages | Jul 28, 2009 | Flowers, Wildflowers
I just got back from another wonderful week of photographing wildflowers along the Blue Ridge Parkway and in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I came home with about 130 GB of photos – so it’s going to take me a while to get them weeded and edited.
One of the wonderful aspects of spring wildflowers in the Smoky Mountains is the incredible combinations of wildflowers that can be seen growing together in the park. In January, I posted a few photos of wildflower combinations from my 2008 trip. Here are some of my favorite combinations of wildflowers from my April 2009 trip to Tennessee.
First is a hillside of yellow trillium (trillium luteum) and purple phacelia (phacelia bipinnatifida). The Yellow Trillium are found throughout the Smoky Mountains. I found this patch surrounded by purple phacelia along River Road.
Yellow Trillium and Purple Phacelia (c) 2009 Patty Hankins
Next is a patch of crested dwarf irises (iris cristata) and star chickweed (stellaria pubera) around the base of a tree. I photographed these flowers along the side of the road in the Greenbrier section of the Smokies, just before the start of the Old Settlers Trail.
Crested Dwarf Irises and Star Chickweed (c) 2009 Patty Hankins
Finally, a showy orchis (galearis spectabilis) in front of a patch of crested dwarf irises (iris cristata) along the Ash Hopper Trail.
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
I hope my photos can give you a sense of the incredible beauty of the wildflowers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I’ve fallen totally in love with the wildflowers and the park. And even though I’ve only been home for a couple of days, I’m already trying to figure out when I can get back to what has quickly become my favorite national park.
by hankinslawrenceimages | Jun 2, 2009 | Flowers, Wildflowers
One morning while Bill and I were driving back from Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, I spotted some little pink flowers on the hillside by the road. After a few U-Turns, I had a chance to take a closer look at the flowers, and realized that they were wild Bleeding Hearts – Dicentra Eximia.
Last spring I’d had the opportunity to photograph three members of the Dicentra family. One was Dicentra Spectabilis – the Bleeding Hearts often found in gardens. The other two were wildflowers – Dutchman’s Breeches (Dicentra Cucullaria) and Squirrel Corn (Dicentra Candadensis) – that I photographed in National Parks.
This was the first time I’d had an opportunity to photograph the wild bleeding hearts. Here are a few of my favorite photos of this beautiful wildflower.
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
(c) 2009 Patty Hankis
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
by hankinslawrenceimages | May 28, 2009 | Flowers, Iridaceae Family, Wildflowers
Crested Dwarf Iris (c) 2009 Patty Hankins
One of my favorite spring wildflowers is the Crested Dwarf Iris (iris cristata). I first photographed some crested dwarf irises a couple of years ago along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Since then, I’ve been trying to get some better photos of them. This year, I finally managed to get some photos of Crested Dwarf Irises that I’m really happy with. All the photos are from my trip to Tennessee earlier this spring.
The first two photos are from the Laurel-Snow Pocket Wilderness area outside of Dayton, TN. This was the first morning of my trip and it was so nice to see them little irises blooming.
These three were growing on a ledge on a rock face.
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
A couple of days later, I found a large patch of crested dwarf irises along the side of the Porter’s Creek Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. My guess is there were at least 200 dwarf irises in this particular patch.
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
The irises were in fantastic shape so I was able to photograph the fine details of the flower.
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
My final photo was taken near the trailhead for the Old Settlers Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I loved the way the few Star Chickweed (stellaria pubera) flowers were grouped among the crested dwarf irises at the base of the tree.
Crested Dwarf Iris and Star Chickweed (c) 2009 Patty Hankins
I’m already looking foward to next spring so that I can see and photograph more crested dwarf irises.
by hankinslawrenceimages | May 13, 2009 | Flowers, Liliaceae Family, Wildflowers
In addition to the Vasey’s Trillium, another trillium that I photographed for the first time on my recent trip to Tennessee was Catesby’s Trillium. Like Vasey’s Trillium, the flower on the Catesby’s Trillium is found below the leaves of the plant. The flowers of the Catesby’s Trillium start out white, and turn pink as the blossoms age.
I spotted my first Catesby’s Trillium along Goforth Creek. I was photographing some violets, looked up the hillside and realized that right above me was a trillium I’d never seen. Once I checked my books, I identified it as a Catesby’s Trillium.
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
This next photo shows how the blossom hangs down and the petals turn back.
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
As I hiked further up the trail, I spotted several more Catesby’s Trillium. This pair were right along side the trail. It was rainy and muddy the day I was hiking along Goforth Creek. I ended up lying in the mud – shooting up to get these last few photos.
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
This is my favorite Catesby’s Trillim photo from Goforth Creek – it really shows the detailed beauty of the flower.
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
A few days later, I found several more Catesby’s Trillium to photograph along the Schoolhouse Gap Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This flower was a paler pink than the ones I’d seen along Goforth Creek.
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
This is the best looking white blossom of a Catesby’s Trillium I was able to photograph on the trip.
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
The final pair of Catesby’s Trillium were photographed last week in the Fern Valley section of the National Arboretum in Washington, DC. Since the flowers weren’t hanging down, I originally thought they were another variety of trillium. But then I realized that the flowers were being pushed up from below by the next trillium down the hill. The identifying sign at the Arboretum identified these as Trillium Catesbaei. They gave the flower the common name of Rose Trillium rather than Catesby’s Trillium.
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
As you can probably tell from the numbers of photos of various trillium that I post, trilliums are one of my favorite spring wildflowers.
