Editor’s Note: High Country Press took photos of more than a dozen wildflowers over the weekend. While we were able to identify several of the flowers, we request your help identifying the rest of those with question marks in the captions below. Do you know the names of some of these flowers? If so, help us out by sending an email to jesse@highcountrypress.com or replying in the comment section below.
Update: High Country Press has received numerous comments regarding the identification of wildflowers depicted in the attached images.
Andrew Jenkins with the ASU Department of Biology, who said this is speciality in the department, provided many responses. Dr. Annkatrin Rose, a professor in the same department, was interviewed for this article and provided a response as well.
Others who have chimed in are Susan Graham of Laureland Greenhouse in Todd and James Nipper, an attorney in Jacksonville, Fla, who finds the study of mountain flowers fascinating.
Also, High Country Press asks for your wildflower pictures. Please send them to jesse@highcountrypress.com.
By Jesse Wood
Aug. 25, 2014. While the excitement of blooming flowers builds in spring after the cold winter, the landscape of the High Country beams with a full spectrum of colors – blues, reds, pinks, purples, oranges, yellows and more – near the end of summer because of wildflowers.
Right now, ironwed, bull thistle, jewelweed, black-eyed Susans, goldenrod and more are on display along roadsides.
High Country Press went out over the weekend and captured more than a dozen wildflowers lighting up the countryside, but there are still plenty more that are expected to bloom or stay in bloom before the first frost.
Daniel Boone Native Gardens, which is located on Horn in the West Drive in Boone, lists goldenrod, stewartia, witch hazel, devil’s walking stick, New England asters, clematis, turtlehead, ironweed, Joe Pye weed, poke, jewelweed, Jerusalem artichoke and sourwood tree as flowers to bloom in September and October.
Dr. Annkatrin Rose, a professor of biology at Appalachian State University, and author of the Wildflower Report in April, May and June, suggested readers check out a “couple cute little orchids” that should pop up along the Blue Ridge Parkway.
“Lady’s tresses, short white flowers, on stalks. Those will be blooming around the parkway here in Boone in September,” Rose said. “Those are always nice to find.”
Rose added that she was out walking yesterday and found a flower she hadn’t seen before.
“There’s always more to see,” Rose said.
As Rose mentioned, the Blue Ridge Parkway is an exceptional place to view wildflowers.
A National Park Service website highlighting wildflowers on the parkway states: “The high rainfall, rich soils, varied topography, and moderate climate provide an environment where many species can coexist together. Historically, glaciers never extended into this region. Species that could not move fast enough south in front of the advancing ice fields became extinct. The overall effect was a “compression” of the flora to the south. Of the approximately 1,600 species of vascular plants that occur in the park, as much as 80 percent are wildflowers. With so many species occurring together, each has evolved to bloom at different times of the year, presumably to avoid competition of pollinators.”
The Blue Ridge Parkway has a Wildflower Report in the spring and summer months that you can hear by calling 828-298-0398 and pressing option 3.
Check out a listing of flowers that are visible right now or in the weeks ahead along the Blue Ridge Parkway below:
- False Hellebore (June-Aug @ 364.6, Craggy Gardens)
- Deptford Pink -Dianthus aemeria (June-Aug) @ Common along grassy roadsides
- Coreopsis – Coreopsis pubescens (June-Aug) @ Mile Posts: 29.6, 77, 157, 190, 306
- Butter and Eggs – Linaria vulgaris (June-Aug) @ Common along roadsides and waste places
- Turkscap Lily – Lilium superbum (June-Aug) @ 187.6, 364-368, 406-411
- Mullein – Verbasxum Thapsus (June-Sep) @ Common along roadside on dry banks
- Common Milkweed -Asclepias syriaca (July-Aug) @ 85-86, 167-176
- Bergamot Beebalm – Monarda fistulosa (July-Aug) @ 38.8, 368-374
- Tall Coneflower – Rudbeckia laciniata (July-Aug) @ 36, 161.2, 228.1, 314, 359-368
- Oswego Tea – Monarda didyma (July-Aug) @ Common in wet areas at higher elevations
- Starry Campion – Silene stellate (July-Sept) @ 378-380
- Bellflower – Campanula Americana (July-Sept) @ 370-375
- White Snakeroot – Eupatorium rugosum (July-Oct) Common along roadside
- Jewel Weed – Impatiens capensis (Aug) @ Common along roadside in wet areas.
- Boneset – Eupatorium rugosum (Aug) @ 29.1, 85.8 PA, 151, 247, 314
- Ironweed – Venonia noveboracensis (Aug) @ 245, 248
- Joe-Pye-Weed – Eupatorium purpureum (Aug) @ 6, 85.8 PA, 146, 248, 339.3 PA, 357-359
- Pokeberry – Phytolacca Americana (Aug) @ 6, 74.7, 151, 239.9, 323, 376.9
- Cardinal Flower – Lobelia cardinalis (Aug) @ Infrequently in wet places
- Virgins Bower – Clematis virginiana (Aug) @ 131.1, 85.8 PA, 176.1, 285-289, 313-370
- Blazing Star – Liatris spicata (Aug-Sept) @ 305.1, 369-370
- Angelica – Angelica triquinata (Aug-Sept) @ 294.7, 339.5, 355, Craggy Gardens, Nature Trails
- Nodding Lady Tresses – Spiranthes cernua (Aug-frost) @ 365-368
- Gentian – Gentiana quinquefolia (Late Aug-frost) @ 85.8, 363-368
- Goldenrod – Solidago spp. (Sept) @ Common in fields and along roadside.
- Aster – Aster spp. (Sept) @ Common in fields and along roadside.
- Yellow Ironweed – Actinomeris alternifolia (Sep-Oct) @ 6, 88, 154.5, 271.9, 330.8
- Witch Hazel – Hamamelis virginiana (Late Sep-Oct) @ 130.5, 293.3, 295.4, 305.1, 308.3, 339.5, 347.6, 367.7
Photos below by Ken Ketchie and Jesse Wood
Do you know the names of some of these flowers? If so, help us out by sending an email to jesse@highcountrypress.com or replying in the comment section below…
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