Wildflowers, Songbirds and Bears, Oh My!
Our initiation into Appalachian spring
This is our first spring living in the southern Appalachian mountains of North Carolina. As the woods on our mountain have come awake, we have been greeted with the wonders of wildflowers, the songs of migratory songbirds, and a bear who has awakened from his sleep and is hungry.
First, the wildflowers. Starting in March we had the most amazing flush of Trout Lilies we had ever seen. Trout lilies are small yellow lilies that grow above two or more basal leaves that are speckled like the trout in the streams where we now live. There was not just one or two, there was a literal carpet of them, each flower the size of my thumb.
The flowers came in waves. After the Trout Lilies came the Rue Anemones. Little white flowers atop a small plant with scalloped leaves. They followed the lilies and created a carpet of their own. My 3-year-old granddaughter loved saying “rue anemones.”
