A walk in a new stretch of woods

Dani

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So, with duck season over and turkey season creeping its way to me, I needed to get out for an adventure. I was reminded that the Dimpled Trout Lilies should be blooming at the beginning of February and so I started stalking the Wolf Creek Trout Lily Preserve website and Facebook page to get updates on when the best time to go was.

Wolf Creek was a Preserve that I’d been trying to get to for the last four years since I heard about the place. It has the highest concentration of dimpled trout lilies known to be anywhere. They are considered to be endangered in FL and before the discovery of this mass of plants in the 90’s, they were considered extremely rare in GA.

Anyway, I had wanted to get to the park and the timing had just been wrong for me every year. This year however, I am now living about an hour away from the park and so I went up there one day after work on an absolutely gorgeous, clear, windy and cold day. What I saw when I got into the woods was amazing.

A blanket of trout lilies just covering the forest floor

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There were many opportunities to get up close and personal with the lovely flowers.

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And there were many bees going about pollinating

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But since spring was making it’s way into the south, the trout lilies were not the only plants that were in bloom

There were violets

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There were a handful of southern twayblade orchids, if you looked hard enough

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There were spotted trilliums that were just coming up

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And they are such a neat flower

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And there were blueberries scattered throughout the woods as well

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But those trout lilies covering the forest floor were just amazing.

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Spring is well and truly here……..

Danibeth
 
I know you couldn't shoot them there but how neat would it be to see a big old Gobbler strutting in those lillies....glad you finally got to see them.....as I recall the thought is that bed is over 50,000 years old....left behind at the very southern tip of the Smokey Mtn's and exists to this day simply as he result of a neat combination of things that has allowed those more Northern plants to survive in the deep South...
Great close ups by the way.....


Steve
 
Thanks y'all.

Steve, when I saw those lilies and I was sittin back admiring them in the peace and quiet I got to thinking how sweet it would be to have a turkey come struttin in and dancin in like that gobbler did through the balsam root. It would be gooooooorgeous.
 
Absolutely lovely, Dani. That had to be magical to walk around in them trying not to step on one. Thanks for taking me along on that trip.
Al
 
Dani~

EXcellent photos all around - reminds me of about 8 weeks from now.

We have the regular old Trout Lily (E. americanum) and plain old Red Trillium (T. erectum). It has been many years since I have seen real "carpets" of these Spring Ephemerals. High deer herds have combined with invasives such as Garlic Mustard to alter/degrade the forest floor.

All the best,

SJS
 
Dani thanks for the glimpse of spring! After a month of a hard winter here on Long Island anything that does not look white is more than a welcome sight. Pictures were excellent. Do you use a tripod for those close ups?
 
Awesome! Thanks for sharing a little of spring with us. everything here is snow/slush and mud! Temps are climbing and soon we will be enjoying the sights of spring also. Pictures are excellent you got some great close ups.
 
Thanks y'all!

Steve, privet and japanese honeysuckle are slowly encroaching into that area. The preserve has a group of volunteers that go out to try to keep the invasives out of that area so that this group of lilies can be protected from invasives for as long as possible.

Keith, I didn't use a tripod. I wished I had one but I don't have a tripod that will get down that low, so it was all hand held photos.

Ken, I'm in the Tallahassee area. Wolf Creek (the preserve these lilies are located in) is up in Grady County in GA, near Cairo.

Dani
 
Cool lilies! But wow do you have some much prettier trilliums down there. Those mottled leaves and red flowers are very striking.
Well captured photos. Thanks for sharing.

Tim
 
And for all of you Yankees, the town of Cairo that Dani mentions is pronounced Kay-ro (like the syrup), not Ky-ro like the city in Egypt.
Great pics Dani. Thanks for sharing
 
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