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Shenandoah Days
It’s hot, it’s humid and only the mosquitoes seem not to be listless! Welcome to summer on the east coast of the USA. This is a region with marked seasons; dry, sub-zero winters and hot muggy summers, with a delicious fresh spring and brilliantly coloured autumn between.
But what to do in the relentless summer heat and humidity? To escape we packed, the kids, the sleeping bags and walking gear, into the car and headed for the hills. In this case the Blue Ridge Mountains of Shenandoah National Park. We all had divergent goals; my son to climb canyons and scale mountains, my daughter to see real wildlife and butterflies, and me, well I wanted space, green, clean air and, of course, wildflowers.
Wildflowers are ‘big’ in the USA. Road verges and median strips are planted with them. Wholesalers sell mixes for every region and purpose. But I wanted wildflowers in their natural habitat, or at least as close to it as I could get, and not planted especially for me! Spring is the season for choice trilliums, dogwoods and the calico bushes (kalmia), but there would still be flowers I assured myself.
Our cabin looked over the Shenandoah Valley, a fertile, productive checkerboard far below us. All around was the forest (or, in American, woods) of mostly deciduous trees. Quite a different look in each season, quite different from the most constant green of our native forests and bush.
So many people come here in autumn to see the spectacular colours of the turning foliage that it is impossible to get accomodation and the traffic on the Blue Ridge Scenic Drive slows to a virtual crawl. All those cars pay a toll to use the road and the tolls are used to develop parking and picnic facilities, develop walking trails, build and staff information centres and generally improve the park. As a result the trees have been cleared below the many lay-bys, enabling visitors to actually see the view, otherwise obscured by tall, tall trees. These clear spaces are a revelation for without the overhead shade wildflowers spring up. Masses of wildflowers.
The roadsides also provide partially shaded conditions and space for flowers, masses of Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta), Jeruslaem artichoke (Helianthus tuberousus), Cimifuga, Joe-Pye weed (Eupartorium purpureum) and more. Some of these plants grow well over 2m tall, and when massed they make an impressive sight. Thankfully we were armed with a wildflower guide (two actually) and the smaller became our scorecard, with each flower we found receiving a tick from the kids. So we were able to identify such finds as Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sepervirens) with slender, rust-coral coloured flowers dainty wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) and butter and eggs (Linaria vulgaris) with bright yellow flowers.
At Big Meadow I gave in to cries of, ‘You’re not stopping again!’. We had an extended stop to regroup, devour ice-creams (not nearly as good as kiwi ice-cream) and then explore of this ancient clearing atop the ‘ridge’. This area was regularly burnt by the Native Americans as the grass encourage game to come out and graze, making hunting for their dinner easier than in the dense undergrowth of the surrounding woods.
Today botanically significant Big Meadow by the Park Service. Some species survive here and then are not found again until cooler Canada, much further north. These fascinating remnants of an earlier ice-age climate, have survived in the high altitude and marshy conditions. And of course deer graze here, their spotted fawns hidden in the long grass. Admittedly deer are pretty here and the fawns quickly draw a group of admirers, but they are such a menace in our garden in northern Virginia.
Wildflower book in hand we set off to explore, although with care as long grassy areas are home to disease bearing deer-ticks, not a good thing to bring home. In the meadow the first impression is of the foamy clouds of Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota) emerging over the grasses. Soon patches of brilliant orange scarlet caught the eye, butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) hosting, predictably, lots of insects. Bull thistles (Cirsium vulgare) were imposing and the bizarrely, but accurately, named Death Camas, Zigadenus nuttallii, (defintely not to be eaten!) speared the grasslands.
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Water plunges down the canyon, dense forest to each side
Wildflowers are big in the USA
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) are very popular
A boardwalk protects a marshy area from too many feet
Native rhododenron R. maximium flowering in soft pink
The roadside is stunning with massed flowers
Big Meadow wildflowers with bright orange Butterfly weed and spires of Death Camas
Dainty Aquilegia canadensis |
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