Rain and wind have kept me away from The Pocket, and when the sun broke through, my wife and I made a run down there today, 02/24/2019. This was a very abbreviated inspection – additional trees have come down in recent days, damaging and blocking the section of the boardwalk where repairs had just been completed, and causing upheaval and further damage in the section near the back where repairs were underway. UPDATE: Kathy Smith Hamill reports that the GA DNR has built a wooden barricade across the boardwalk just past the loop with signs ‘that say the boardwalk and spur trail back to the waterfall from that point are now “closed indefinitely due to soil instability” with the word “indefinitely” in bold, italic letters.’ This is very unfortunate.
That being said, the wildflowers are starting – as shown by this photo, the Bloodroot are starting to bloom!
Bloodroot – Sanguinaria canadensis
Another exciting find, several Virginia Bluebell (Mertensia virginica) plants had a few flowers open, and many were in bud. As per our report from 02/07, Hepatica (Anemone americana), Harbinger-of-Spring (Erigenia bulbosa), and Star Chickweed (Stellaria pubera) were blooming, and Cutleaf Toothwort (Cardamine concatenata) has started blooming as well.
Remember that this is a Fee Area. See prior years’ wildflower status reports for The Pocket here.
Thank you so much for the update after this past very rainy week. They no sooner get one repair made to the boardwalk before another becomes necessary seemingly. I’ll also try to get down there after work on 2/26 if possible. Between this damage here and the shutdown in the Smokies keeping some trails/sections closed much later in the season than normal (not to mention the damage there as well from recent flooding), I don’t know how we’re going to salvage a full season of wildflower hunting this year, but I guess we’ll make the best of it.