Posted by Steve Hamley on April 30, 2007 at 8:59 AM
Folks,
I went over the Smokies, up the BRP as far as the Pisgah Inn, then over Max Patch yesterday.
The Carolina side of things seems to have weathered the easter freeze much better than the Tennessee side except maybe at the lowest elevations where trees and plants were on their springy way.
That said, spring seems very late; there are few if any sarvis blooms yet. The only one I saw in full bloom was next to the Road Prong above Alum Cave parking area. The ones at Morton overlook were in bud, but no blooms. There are few scraggly blooms on isolated boughs in the gaps along the BRP; Soco, Balsam, Beech, but nothing you could make a picture out of. The hillsides show no sign of sarvis from a distance. Graveyard is still gray, although the sarvis along the road have buds. The buds I've seen everywhere appear to be undamaged although who knows what the quality of bloom will be when it comes. I did not walk down the trails at Graveyard because the parking lot was full, but I assume the buds in the fields are also sound. I took a couple of digital point-and-shoot pics in case anyone wants to see what Graveyard looks like.
There is some pink azalea budding and beginning to bloom that appears undamaged. I also inspected rhododendron buds at a few locations, and they appear undamaged.
There are a lot of trillium, the best I've sen this year going up the Harmon Den road to Max Patch. It was a windy blue-sky day so I didn't try anything with them. The Patch itself has reddening boughs, some early tree blossoms and foilage, and nearby trees don't show a lot of damage. You start seeing the damage more as you come down the Tennessee side into Del Rio.
I'd guess early spring in the high country is at least a week off.
Steve
Posted by Lori Kincaid on April 30, 2007 at 10:25 AM
Thanks for the update, Steve. Man, you should've come by when you were in the area! One thing I'll add is the sarvis were mainly frozen out here in the Max Patch area. They were just starting to bloom when the freeze hit, which was much earlier than normal. I've noticed a few scattered blooms over the last few days, but I don't think we'll get much of a display here. I also checked Soco before the freeze and they were in bud there, too, and were probably mainly frozen. I do have hopes for a better display at Graveyard, since they shouldn't have been as far along when the freeze hit.
Yes, large-flowered trillium are good coming up Harmon Den and on the AT through this area. Not as good as years past, and the trees are still pretty bare at the higher elevations, but still some nice displays.
I'm surprised there are trilliums up there...I thought they would be gone by now! Any idea if Baxter/Big Creek has anything going on, or is too low an elevation? I'm hoping to be able to get out next weekend.
Posted by Darrin Doss on April 30, 2007 at 4:43 PM
Spring has been kinda weird up this way as well. I was up on th BRP just the other day from Roanoke to Floyd and there were plenty of trilliums blooming as well as some bloodroots in the higher shaded areas. Most bloodroots were gone in February down low! I guess a couple of cold weeks kept things from happening up in the higher elevations around here.
Discussion
4 repliesI went over the Smokies, up the BRP as far as the Pisgah Inn, then over Max Patch yesterday.
The Carolina side of things seems to have weathered the easter freeze much better than the Tennessee side except maybe at the lowest elevations where trees and plants were on their springy way.
That said, spring seems very late; there are few if any sarvis blooms yet. The only one I saw in full bloom was next to the Road Prong above Alum Cave parking area. The ones at Morton overlook were in bud, but no blooms. There are few scraggly blooms on isolated boughs in the gaps along the BRP; Soco, Balsam, Beech, but nothing you could make a picture out of. The hillsides show no sign of sarvis from a distance. Graveyard is still gray, although the sarvis along the road have buds. The buds I've seen everywhere appear to be undamaged although who knows what the quality of bloom will be when it comes. I did not walk down the trails at Graveyard because the parking lot was full, but I assume the buds in the fields are also sound. I took a couple of digital point-and-shoot pics in case anyone wants to see what Graveyard looks like.
There is some pink azalea budding and beginning to bloom that appears undamaged. I also inspected rhododendron buds at a few locations, and they appear undamaged.
There are a lot of trillium, the best I've sen this year going up the Harmon Den road to Max Patch. It was a windy blue-sky day so I didn't try anything with them. The Patch itself has reddening boughs, some early tree blossoms and foilage, and nearby trees don't show a lot of damage. You start seeing the damage more as you come down the Tennessee side into Del Rio.
I'd guess early spring in the high country is at least a week off.
Steve
Yes, large-flowered trillium are good coming up Harmon Den and on the AT through this area. Not as good as years past, and the trees are still pretty bare at the higher elevations, but still some nice displays.
Lori