Grassy Mountain is a 3600’+ peak in Murray County, Georgia, just outside the southwest corner of the Cohutta Wilderness. It’s probably best known as the home of Conasauga Lake, which at 3150′ is the highest lake in Georgia. It is formed by a small dam on the headwaters of Mill Creek. I’d spent a lot of time in and around the Cohutta Wilderness in the 90’s, but hadn’t been back much since then, so when I got an email last week from Mike Christison of the Georgia Botanical Society where he mentioned he’d seen Yellow Ladyslippers blooming on Grassy Mountain in the past, and that they were recently blooming at a much lower elevation, I figured this would be a great time for a return trip to the area. In spite of the cool temperatures, wind, and occasional rain, it WAS a great time; my wife and I identified (at least to a genus level) 37 40 different wildflower species in bloom, including this Wideleaf Spiderwort (Tradescantia subaspera.)
Wideleaf Spiderwort – Tradescantia subaspera along Mill Creek Road