Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Travel / Places to Visit => Topic started by: alpines on April 06, 2008, 02:18:46 AM
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......well fortunately there were no Teddy bears having a picnic but Oh boy did we luck out today!
The Kentucky State Nature Preserve opened its doors to the Floracliff Nature Sanctuary in Fayette County, a 30 minute drive from our home, and originally the property of the late Mary E. Wharton, co-author of "Wildflowers & Ferns of Kentucky". Floracliff is approx 260 acres of woodland just outside Lexington, Kentucky, a city the size of Manchester, England, and is not open to the public.....for obvious reasons.
We spent about 3 hours there this afternoon and were enthralled by the abundance of wildflowers. We are sharing some photos with you all (or should that be y'all?) but for erythronium, read hundreds, for jeffersonias, read thousands. This is by far one of the most floriferous preserves we have visited and it's only the second week of Spring !!!
We hope you enjoy the wildflowers as much as we did.
Alan & Sherba
In order
1. The creek and habitat at the Floracliff SNP
2. Sessile trillium - Trillium sessile
3. Trillium sessile close up
4. Rue anemone - Anemonella thalictroides
5. Anemonella thalictroides close up
6. Pink form of Anemonella thalictroides
7. Wild ginger - Asarum canadense
8. Purple cress - Cardamine douglasii
9. Purple cress - Cardamine douglasii - white form
10.Spring beauty - Claytonia virginica
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Part 2
11. Corydalis flavula
12. Squirrel corn - Dicentra canadensis
13. Dutchman's breeches - Dicentra cucullaria
14. Yellow Trout Lily - Erythronium americanum
15. Erythronium flower in close up
16. Hepatica acutiloba
17. Hepatica habitat
18. Twinleaf - Jeffersonia diphylla in bud
19. Jeffersonia diphylla
20. Wild blue phlox - Phlox divaricata
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...and finally...until our next walk in the woods
21. Bloodroot - Sanguinaria canadensis
22. Sanguinaria habitat
23. Early saxifrage (who said we can't grow saxes in this humidity???) - Saxifraga virginiensis
......last but not least....and this should have been over weeks ago
24. Snow Trillium - Trillium nivale.....only known from two locations in Kentucky.
Hope you have enjoyed this 'walk' with us today.
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Quoting Kristl Walek from 'Hepaticas of Kentucky' thread
I see the drifts of Trillium, Erythronium, Sanguinaria, Asarum, Ferns and I become homesick before I have even left...
Kristl......for your delectation
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Beautiful......I really did ENJOY!!!!
Love and little blue scillas from Lancashire.
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Very interesting !!!
Best wishes from Germany
Hans
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Thank you!
You are able to inspire an imagination as if walking in the woods myself.
Wonderful plants in a most beautiful landscape!
Gerd
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Do wild Sanguinarias hold their petals longer than those in cultivation?
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Thanks everyone for their kind comments.
Mark....the answer is a most definite "NO'
They tend to come out very early in Spring while wind, rain and sometimes frost can appear out of the blue.
I have been photographing here in Spring for almost 8 years and this is the first time I've managed to see them in flower.
The same is true of the Jeffersonias. The flowers are also short lived on the plants, I guess it's a question of 'right place, right time' and a whole lot of luck to see them in the wild.....here in KY that is.
Alan
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Thanks for the wonderful photos. Long may Nature be preserved.
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I should have noted in my preamble that these plants are all growing in moist woods, on limestone, with a North West aspect.
Interestingly, the preserve is divided in two by the creek you see in the first photo. For two days prior to our visit, we had torrential rain and most of Kentucky was under a Flood Warning. The original plan was to walk on the other side of the creek, then cross over the creek and visit the NW side. However, the water was so high that it was deemed too dangerous to cross. The interesting point about this is that the yellow erythronim (E.americanum) only grows on the side we walked. On the other side of the creek, E.albidum is the sole representative. So on one side you have yellow erythroniums and on the other you have white !!!!
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Thank you Alan - marvelous pictures from the "Wild country" !
Don't hesitate if you have another walk .... ;)
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Thank you for the spring impressions over the ocean!
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Alan, Sherba, how LOVELY! Can't tell you how much these walks mean to us here in Aberdeen.... we so admire these American beauties! Walk again... walk often! Thank you :-* :-*
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I agree with Maggie, thank goodness I was able to look at your pictures as our weather here is most foul a wonderful sight all your pictures really made our day, cheers Ian the Christie kind
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Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!! What a cool walk!! :o That Erythronium is delicious, and the Sanguinaria, Hepatica, Jeffersonia!!! :o All beautiful! Thanks for posting the pics for us to enjoy.
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Thanks everyone for your kind comments. It is just such a pleasure for us to share all this beauty with everyone. We are truly blessed, that within a small radius of our home, we are able to walk among this rich flora at will.
We were only thinking yesterday, that when we were back in England, it took a logistics nightmare and plane tickets to see such a wonderful flora....and no, I am not forgetting the primula veris, sax. oppositifolia etc. back home, but to be able to enjoy such wonders, so close to home, really does want us to have you share our journies. (Bring your own packed lunch ;D
Yesterday (Sunday, April 6th), we took a walk back to Anglin Falls and couldn't believe the difference a week makes. I'm at work right now but I'll upload some more pictures as soon as I am able, including what I can only describe as the most amazing find of Erythronium albidum anywhere in the State.
Thanks for your encouragement to continue sharing our adventures with you all.
Alan & Sherba
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Great pics and explanation of conditions thanks very much for sharing
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Thanks so much - just wonderful (and important) to see this plants in their natural habitat.
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the most amazing find of Erythronium albidum anywhere in the State.
Oh, my goodness! 8) How exciting!
Ian is lying down in a darkened room, hyperventilating with anticipation ::) :o
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If Ian had been with us yesterday, he'd still be there now, Maggi.
I promise I will post at least one picture when I get home from work that will knock his socks off. Now does he want to increase the upload size so he can see them all? ;)
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Crikey, I'm going to have to wipe him down with a damp cloth.... :P ::)
I must say, to see Trillium nivale in the wild , I might still be there , too!
I tell you what, Alan, if you would be kind enough to email Ian the full files so he can drool privately, that would be fab!
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There were three plants of T.nivale. The other two had flowers on but were well past their best but I agree with you Maggi, they don't compare with John Forrests's show plants but to see them in the wild, when you least expect to, is something else.
I'll get a few shots of the erythronium together for Ian.....e-mail me privately with his e-address and I'll do what I can. I'll obviously post them here too but at the max. size on the forum, you'd be hard pressed to see the impact....and believe me, Sherba and I were still talking about them this morning.
I've told you a million times before that I'm not prone to exaggeration ;D but if I put a conservative figure on the number, it would have to be in excess of twenty thousand.......in flower !!!!! In an area not much bigger than a soccer field. I know no-one will believe me till they see the pictures...but they will afterwards.
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You already know MY e-mail address Mr. Kentucky sir....pretty, pretty please?
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Hey Buddy........you really wouldn't believe it. It's almost as though they are a pernicious weed but they seemed to be confined within an area about 100m x 60m. I'm sure the people driving past us thought we were nuts photographing the white weeds.
I'll send you some shots....it may entice you and your good lady Sue to come enjoy a moment or two at the homestead.
I told Maggi in a private e-mail, it'll be after midnight UK time before I get the chance to send any phots , so don't wait up.
Love to you and Mrs. Buttercup
Alan & Sherba
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Alan,
Can you post me the full sized shots as well, if you don't mind? I'd like to see them here, but larger photos can sometimes do things better justice. 8)
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OK folks......if you really must see them, I've done a very rough web page for them on my web site. I'll be posting some of them here in a smaller format , maybe later this week, but for the time being go to this link
http://www.thealpinegarden.com/Erythronium.html
As I told Ian & Maggi, the photos do not do them justice. You had to be there to experience this. Just for interest, the bank in the pictures also contained blue phlox, sessile trillium and lots of other good stuff,
I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.
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Alan,
That really is amazing. Looks like a beautiful species!! :)
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Well I guess this will be the last batch of photos for this week. Trilliums next week hopefully...there are lots in bud, not too many open just now.
A couple of shots of Berea Forest to start you off
1. Berea Forest
2. and again
3. A trio of Erythronium americanum
4. E.americanum habitat
5. Angel Lily - Only Sherba would find an Erythronium that looked like an Angel :)
6. Nice deep blue Hepatica acutiloba
7. Three more Sanguinarias
8. I'm thinking this is probaby Trillium erectum but it could be cernuum. I'll need someone more knowledgeable than myself to identify this please.
9. Erythronum albidum
10. ....and some more.
Don't have a clue where we'll be walking next week but we'll keep you posted with what we find.
ENJOY...and thanks to everyone for their kind remarks.
Alan & Sherba
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Beautiful, Alan. The Erythronium americanum has definitely gone onto my "want list" now, alongside E. umbilicatum which is very similar. Very impressed by the E. albidum too!! Love that colour combination and those leaves. The Trilliums are glorious as well. What great pics!! :D
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Thanks Paul....and after the day I've had.....to say nothing of the excitement over this weekend....I'm off to bed.
G'night y'all !!!!
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G'night!! (which is amusing to say, given it is 11:45am here!! ;D)
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SEN -ruddy- SATIONAL!!!!
How come you showed us nothing like that when we visited? Just bears, bears, bears!!!
Super stuff....now off you go to capture the trilliums.....please.
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Mr. Booker, Sir.........You came in June. Even the wonderful Sherba can't keep flowers THAT long. So forget Florida next year......get over here the first two weeks of April and we'll walk even YOUR legs off.
(For those who don't know Mr. B personally, his ability to walk is only surpassed by his ability to take such incredible photographs).
As I said, the pictures don't do this mass of bulbs the breathtaking justice they deserved.
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Simply stunning Alan and Sherba - THANK YOU
I know how difficult - impossible- it is to capture that sensation of standing in front of a mass flowering like this but the pictures on your link do give us the best impression and the rest is up to our imagination and mine is working over time.
It is fascinating to here you say that E americanum is on one side of the river and E albidum on the other. Are there any obvious factors to this clear devide?
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Hi Ian,
The only thing I can think of, is that E.americanum prefers the North East aspect at Floracliff, but having said that I didn't check out the aspect of the albidum at the other site, which incidentally, had a mixed population of albidum/americanum, although the yellow was in much smaller numbers. I'll check the aspect out and let you know. Plant community-wise, both Erythroniums were growing amongst similar populations of like plants at the two sites, Sanguinaria canadensis, Trillium sessile, Phlox divaricata etc.
I should have noted too, that for all the thousands of albidum in flower, there must have been 10 non-flowering plants. (The same applies to the americanum in both Floracliff and Anglin Falls).The leaves were everywhere but as you know, 1 leaf=no flower, two leaves=flowers.
Another interesting observation was that we found T. sessile growing in a full vertical position out of the bank very similar to Lewisias at Bodnant Gardens. I have never seen T.sessile growing anything other than in a horizontal plain. The more I see stuff over here, the more I learn. Next time we're out I'll try to remember to take my pH tester with me and see what the pH of the soil is. The vast majority of Kentucky, especially the Bluegrass area (I'll post a physio map of KY when I get the chance) is on limestone, although the forests are so old and almost virgin, that the leaf litter may still have neutralized the soil to a degree.
I am not too well educated on bulbous stuff, so if there is anything in particluar you want me to find out about the growth habit etc. of the Erythroniums, then just ask.
Glad you enjoyed the shots
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Alan,
I realised in this moment, who are you! Yours was the very first website concerning alpine gardening which I have read a few years ago! :)
So, I want to thank you very much for the impulse you gave me and the helpful advices. From time to time I'm wisiting it, and like it very much!
Wish you and Sherba many wonderful walking days!
Kathrine from Hungary
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Katherine...there are people throughout the alpine world who are STILL trying to figure out who I am. ;D
So thank you for giving them a clue as to my real identity. You can't believe everything Cliff Booker says about me.
If I inspired you with a love of alpines then I am so very pleased.
Long may you continue to gain pleasure from growing the most beautiful plants in the world.
Alan
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Alan,
I too have greatly enjoyed your photos - especially the Erythroniums! Thanks for posting them. The first week in April is a glorious time in so many places!
Ed
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Wonderful pictures - thank you very much.
Sue
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Now then, why does my group of Sanguinaria never open like that? Mine are gone already and I never saw them open
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Maybe Mark, because you don't have too many timber rattlesnakes and copperheads drilling drainage holes underneath them!!!!!
I tried growing sanguinarias back in England but I had the same problem as you. But the truth is, for every one you see here during a weekend, you probably miss hundreds that have opened during the week. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't.
When Sherba and I were out on Sunday, [it was warm (78 degrees) and sunny], it just happened to coincide with the same weekend we were at Anglin Falls last year. Here's a photograph of what we saw this time last year, taken 6th April 2007.
Maybe this is a factor !!!
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When Sherba and I were out on Sunday, [it was warm (78 degrees) and sunny], it just happened to coincide with the same weekend we were at Anglin Falls last year. Here's a photograph of what we saw this time last year, taken 6th April 2007.
Maybe this is a factor !!! Quite a difference in weather, then! At 78 degrees F, not much wonder they were out taking the sun like that... lucky little things!
A frozen waterfall is a pretty sight, if chilling!
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Hi Maggi,
You wouldn't believe the weather here.....about 4 weeks ago, we had a tornado on Monday, 70+ degrees for the next two days, then we had an ice storm, then we had snow for three days, then back to warm and sunny. I often wondered why Sherba was so incensed with watching the weather forecast when she lived in England....now I know. And I kid you not, you can go out in long johns in the morning and change to shorts in the afternoon. I have seen (and not on just one occasion) where we have had a 40 degree change from morning to evening. And you wonder why I can't grow alpines here !!!!!
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where we have had a 40 degree change from morning to evening
Ridiculous! Shouldn't be allowed... it's as bad as a desert, a temperature swing like that :P
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All this talk of temperature swings has reminded me that feet are getting cold.... I'm off to snuggle with a warm Bulb Despot.... it's cheaper than switching the heating back on :-X ;) Goodnight!
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There was a surprise when I got home from work today. Two Sanguinaria were open. Due to the darn wind the flowers didnt sit still for good photos
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Well there you go Mark. The power of the SRGC does remarkable things....and no rattlesnakes either!!!
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What is the link with the snakes? Do they disturb the roots?
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Mark....my sense of humor is often misplaced. I'm not sure they disturb anything other than me.
One has to be conscious of the fact that this is THEIR territory and the sudden impulse to wander off through the leaf litter to 'get a better shot', has to be tempered by the fact that any wild area, either in the woods or the mountains, is home to some incredibly dangerous critters. There are four extremely venemous snakes in KY, the timber rattlesnake, the copperhead, the water mocassin (aka cottonmouth) and the pygmy rattlesnake. All are potentially deadly but generally they will stay well clear of recognized trails, paths etc. so on the good side, you are hardly likely to encounter one unless you stray into their habitat, but even so, you ALWAYS look before you sit on a rock and always tap on a log before you stride over it. It sounds paranoid but it does make good sense.
Probably the worse thing you'll encounter without actually knowing it until the damage has been done, is the Brown recluse spider. These things inject venom which can eat your flesh away in no time at all.
Then there are bears which can be very intimidating..........and ticks which cause lyme disease.
All in all, you don't have to be afraid of anything...you just have to respect it.
And you thought Sherba and I were out having fun ;)
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Dear Alan and Sherba,
It is a few day since I logged on to this site and so today it was a great pleasure to go through all your photographs. I have a great friend in Maryland and regularly receive seed from him as I find the North American woodland plants very interesting. William Cullina's two books are two favourites and show why it is such a pity that here in Europe we so often look to the east for our plants and neglect the fabulous wealth of plant in North America.
You have presented a great selection of photographs, an excellent recommendation for your native flora.
Many thanks, Paddy
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Spiders! and I've seen some giants over there with big black and yellow bodies - run for cover!!!!
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Paddy,
Thank you for your kindness. So glad you enjoyed the photos. Hopefully there will be more to come this weekend but the sages have predicted cold, cloudy and wet weather for Saturday & Sunday, and the woods can be treacherous underfoot when the weather is bad. I'm not too worried about broken bones but the thought of breaking my camera?????? now that's another matter !!!!
Mark......it's not the BIG spiders you have to worry about....it's the little ones....seriouisly
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Much pleasure and enjoyment to me too, Alan and Sherba. Just caught up with this thread. A busy week in and out but today we are having the first snow of the dark season, very early, and dark out, so time to catch up.
Specially pleased to see the Ery. albidum as I have young ones just about due to flower. What a treat this great selection has been.
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Hi Lesley,
Glad you enjoyed the postings. This week should be bluebell week in Kentucky. Mertensia virginica is our local bluebell and the woods should be full, so hopefully we'll be out and about again this weekend. Won't be too long before Ladies' Slipper season is upon us, and if the rest of the plants we've seen this Spring are anything to go by, then we should be in for a treat. We will of course share anything we find.
My sister lives in Auckland so I know all about your current dark nights....but then of course it's our turn to envy you in October. :)