Dwarf Larkspur – Native Plant of the Day 04/25/2019
Photo from 04/25/2010. Location: Sitton’s Gulch, Dade County, GA.
More photos / info at the Delphinium tricorne detail page.
Dwarf Larkspur – Delphinium tricorne
Southern Loosestrife – Native Plant of the Day 07/23/2018
Photo from 07/09/2013. Location: Cloudland Canyon State Park, Dade County, Ga.
More info / photos at the Lysimachia tonsa detail page.
Southern Loosestrife – Lysimachia tonsa
The Georgia Botanical Society made their trip to Cloudland Canyon State Park on Saturday, April 11, and I saw their photo report on Facebook. That, and a report from Richard Ware’s Sunday trip to the same location, inspired me to take advantage of a break in this week’s rain on Tuesday to get back over to Sitton’s Gulch to see the Dwarf Larkspur, Southern Red Trillium, and other wildflowers. It was a great choice, with at least 34 species of wildflower observed.
Dwarf Larkspur – Delphinium tricorne – Unusual blue form along Sitton Gulch Trail side loop
The rest of the story…
Southern Red Trillium, a native species, has been added to the USWildflowers database (4/27/2014.) Scientific name is Trillium sulcatum. Photo below was taken at the Cloudland Canyon State Park in Dade County, GA, on Apr 16, 2014. Go to the Southern Red Trillium detail page for more photos and information.
Southern Red Trillium – Trillium sulcatum
Wednesday, 04/16/2014, woke up bright and beautiful, if a bit chilly with overnight lows in the lower 30’s. I had a reminder on my calendar to check for Trillium sulcatum, a species I had not seen previously, at Cloudland Canyon State Park. Calendar and weather were in sync, so around 10 AM I headed out for my first visit to this wonderful, nearby state park in 2014. I spotted some Vernal Iris (Iris verna) along the park’s entrance road, a portent of what I hoped would be a beautiful walk. I was not disappointed.
Vernal Iris – Iris verna
I’ve posted most of these photos on Facebook and Twitter already, but in my semi-retirement I am more and more using the Journal to try to track some of my activities – Cindy and I are finding ourselves asking each other “What did we do last week?” Some of those Journal entries are just private notes as to what we did, but some, like this one, might have some community interest. This is one of those.
Since I work part-time now, my weekend usually starts on Thursday afternoon, but this week some projects used more of my time earlier in the week so I finished up a couple of hours earlier than usual. We’d had rain (lots of rain) for 9 days in a row, and there was slight break in the rain before a cold front came through bringing more rain and possibly snow (some nearby areas got some; we didn’t.) I decided to take that break as an opportunity to run up to Cloudland Canyon State Park to see what the waterfalls looked like after all the rain.
The first waterfalls that I saw wasn’t one that I expected. During normal water levels you don’t even notice this one across the canyon from the main overlook. I suspect that during dry weather there may be no water at all in this unnamed stream tumbling down the bluff.
Waterfalls at Cloudland Canyon State Park after heavy rain
I made a July trip over to Cloudland Canyon State Park to see the waterfalls with an expectation that I’d also see many wildflowers along the way, and I wasn’t disappointed. While recently posting a report on a visit to nearby Lula Falls, I discovered that I’d never written the planned report on the Cloudland Canyon trip. I quickly realized that I didn’t remember many of the details of the walk – and I was relieved to discover that the July trip was in 2011, not just this past July, so the memory fade was more reasonable. But to refresh that failing memory, I made another trip up there on Dec 5. Here are a dozen photos from those two “waterfalls and wildflowers walks.”
(Click on any image and you’ll go to Flickr where you can view larger sized images.)
Unnamed Falls along Sitton Gulch Trail near the Waterfalls Trail junction – Cloudland Canyon State Park
Native Plant of the Day 01/10/2012.
Photo from July 20, 2010. Location: Cloudland Canyon State Park, Dade County, GA.
White Milkweed – for more photos / info go to the Asclepias variegata detail page.
White Milkweed, Redring Milkweed, Variegated Milkweed – Asclepias variegata
Mountain Bush Honeysuckle, a native species, has been added to the USWildflowers database (07/11/2011.) Scientific name is Diervilla rivularis. Photo below was taken at Cloudland Canyon State Park in Dade County, GA on July 2, 2011. Go to the Mountain Bush Honeysuckle detail page for more photos and information.
Mountain Bush Honeysuckle, Hairy Bush honeysuckle, Riverbank Bush Honeysuckle – Diervilla rivularis
Purple Coneflower, a native species, has been added to the USWildflowers database (07/08/2010.) Scientific name is Echinacea purpurea. Photo below was taken at Cloudland Canyon State Park in Dade County, GA, on 07/05/2010.
Purple Coneflower – Echinacea purpurea