America’s Wildflowers, On the Road in a Truck Camper Pt 2

Leaving Lake Powhatan, we headed south on the Blue Ridge Parkway.




Along the Parkway we saw hillsides full of blooms, the blooms of Downy Serviceberry trees.






The understory bushes were blooming too, like this American Bladdernut (Staphlyea trifolia).






Even the ground appeared to be sprouting blooms, like these Bluets (Houstonia caerulia) which were so pretty they almost looked fake.






After dropping down off the Parkway we made our way over to Deep Creek Campground, just inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, near Bryson City NC. This area is at elevation 1800 feet, a little lower than Lake Powhatan, and features a creek with several easily accessible waterfalls. In this environment we saw some of the same flowers we’d seen earlier and others we hadn’t seen before.




Dwarf Blue Flag (Iris verna)






False Solomon Seal (Smilacina racemose)






Bulbous Buttercup (Ranunculus bulbosus)




Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)






Goldenthread (Coptis groenlandica)




Wild Blue Phlox (Phlox divaricate)




Pretty white flower






Tiny yellow flowers






Tiny white flowers







I’m going to call this one Fireworks Flower (Petalus explodia) until one of you tells me what it is :B






There were also a variety of trilliums. The first one I was able to identify as a Nodding Trillium (Trillium cernuum) but the rest aren’t clear cut to me.




My DB spotted this trillium hanging off the side of the hill below the trail. His DW said not to climb down there so of course we did. A purple version of the Nodding Trillium? I read that trilliums readily crossbreed.












This is not what one thinks of as a flower but it’s beautiful in its own way … Jack in the Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum).




My SIL spotted these flocks of moths and butterflies. Again not flowers but very pretty nonetheless.






Next up … Cades Cove.