Here's a photographic snippet of how things are going in the garden:
Saturday, April 18, 2015
Mobile Botanical Gardens: Week of April 13
Here's a photographic snippet of how things are going in the garden:
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Trillium Expedition to Northern Alabama with Christopher
So...remember last year I went to Washington, D.C. for the APGA Plant Collections Symposium. Well, that trip made this trip possible. I met both Christopher Elenstar, a horticulturist at Brookside Gardens in Maryland, and Carol Lambden, the special projects manager at Huntsville Botanical Garden, during the symposium and it was then these plans were hatched. Serendipity at its finest.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, and we were still getting the logistics ironed out, but the trip was still on! Whew.
I started the long drive up Interstate 65 the overcast morning of April 2, IDing plants as I drove (and man, there were some impressive Cornus florida and a handful of Chionanthus virginicus). The weather held off for me until I got to Birmingham, when a thunderstorm of epic proportions chased me to the airport where Christopher was just about to land....(and yes, his pilot landed in the middle of the thunderstorm).
We started our epic journey with pizza. No! Who has time for food when there are awesome plants waiting to be found?!
Nope, food first. But afterward, we were off to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens for a botanical primer of North Alabama plants (which are more akin to those in Maryland and the North Carolina mountains than those in southern Alabama). We pointed ourselves in the direction of the native wildflower garden and we were off. Neither of us were expecting the intricate detail of the floral and botanical offerings we witness therein. We recognized most, some only to genus, and then there were others we eagerly sought the tag for.
We closed down the Birmingham Botanical Garden (and killed our cameras) and then made the drive to Huntsville to stay the night.
~~~
The next morning we got up to an overcast, humid morning, but our stop for breakfast made it all better. Christopher made an excellent find with the Mason Dixon Bakery. It was a great way to start the day!
We headed over to the Huntsville Botanical Garden first thing to meet up with Carol for a tour of the garden and the Trillium collection they are hoping to get NAPCC certified. It was a happy reunion and Christopher and I were quickly whisked off in a 6-seater golf cart with Harold Howard, the Trillium man.
Again, we were immediately in awe of what we'd signed up for. Harold gave us a two-hour tour of their native nursery area that was full of Trillium, native azaleas, Hexastylis, Asarum and a myriad of every other native flowering herb you could imagine. He picked up seed flats, trays, and pots; lifted leaves and pointed out flowers. There seemed no end to the experimentation and learning and discovery that was going on back there. I was so impressed with the volunteer support they have and their support of wild-collecting and rescuing of native plants. Whoa!
We were whisked off to the actual outplanted Trillium collection and the native wildflower area as soon as we could pry ourselves away from the nursery. Just countless "one more Trillium"s later, Carol, Christopher and I had gotten the crash course of a lifetime in the 28 species of Trillium Huntsville had. I was furiously taking notes and pictures and asking questions, and time flew by until my body reminded me it was lunchtime.
Carol drove us through the rest of the garden, including the clever children's garden and butterfly house. Sadly it was a little early for the butterflies, but I guess I'll just have to see them on my next visit!
As if the morning-long tour wasn't enough, Christopher and I made out like bandits with Trillium flexipes, Asarum and Hexastylis, as well as several different native azaleas (which is exactly why I keep plastic in the back of my car)!
After a tasty lunch from the garden cafe and a wonderful discussion about what we learned that day, we made our way to Monte Sano State Park, the mountain that loomed over Huntsville, to hunt for wild Trillium. The southeastern side of the mountain was a sheltered valley and looked promising after appraising the nice $3 map we got with our entrance fee.
The overlook we parked at presented a beautiful view of the valley below and allowed us to feel the breath of spring coming up from it. We started on the Sinks Trail, slowly making our way to the trailhead down the hillside. At first it wasn't looking promising as the understory seemed empty, but as well looked closer the ephemerals of all sorts came into focus. And the Trillium appeared in great swaths. Score.
As we made our way further into the valley, a more stunning diversity of plants dotted the landscape. We'd barely made it halfway the hillside when we came to a limestone shelf and Christopher saw the first patch of Jeffersonia diphylla, a rather curious mono-generic member of the Berberidaceae, barberry family. Suddenly there were several clumps and then the whole hillside was dotted with them. It was mind-blowing to see so many in one spot. There were other plants there too, Heuchera villosa growing out of the cracks in the rock and Hepatica nobilis doing its thing. Unreal.
We had to keep moving, though the going was slow. Every five feet was a new plant, a new photo we had to take. Everywhere I looked there was something astounding about the landscape: the contour of the hill, the way the light lit up the emerging leaves on the trees, the towering trees, the stream we came upon. Everything. It was all as if we'd stepped into a fantasy world you only read about in botanical fairy tales.
Our cameras started dying as we came upon a valley of Mertensia virginica, Virginia Bluebells. What started as a random patch of the beautiful, true-blue flowers and a carpet of Sanguinaria canadensis, bloodroot, opened up into an almost acre blanket of the Mertensia in full bloom. We stared in awe as we tried to understand the scale of the scene we were seeing. A closer look showed more Sanguinaria, ferns and even a few Trillium flexipes in the mix. I went into the valley for a scale picture and then Christopher and I spent at least 20 minutes just taking in everything.
But I could hear thunder whispering in the distance and I could tell there was a warning in the air, so it was time to move on. The sun had disappeared behind the mountain towering over us and we had to make it out of the park before sundown. Time to move.
We booked it up the hill and down an adjoining trail back to our car. We got a few more photos out of our phones, playing hopscotch with each other as we tried to hurry down the path while also taking photos. Just as we were starting the final ascent, the thunder cracked above us and the rain came in a gentle, steady stream. We made it back to the car just a little damp.
But the view as we drove back down the mountain was incredible. The sun was setting, emerging from the clouds clearing the horizon. There was another dark warning coming on the western horizon, but for the moment we could enjoy the beautiful sunset, a few more healthy clumps of Trillium cuneatum and some Mason Dixon Gluten-free cupcakes.
~~~
I'm not one for early rises....but this trip was a special occasion. We had a lot to fit into such a small amount of time. We rose just as the sun was coming over Monte Sano State Park and we were ready
for a follow-up trek to see some more of what we missed. It was surprisingly chilly that morning, in the mid-40s by the time we got to the top of the mountain. With out hand firmly buried in our pockets, we descended into the valley as the sun was lighting the mountain side. It seemed spring had taken a queue from the sunshine and a deeper haze of green lit the canopy around us. It was a brisk jaunt and very successful.
We'd started our morning with a minimal breakfast, so it was off to another lovely gluten-free place! We fueled up and then we were off to our final stop: Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge.
It was still chilly in Decatur and it seemed the Saturday morning was prohibitive to many hikers. We stopped in the visitor's center to get our bearings and found out there really weren't many hiking trails. It makes sense, since it is a wildlife refuge, not a human recreation area. We found some trails though and so it was out to the Cypress Trail.
It started as a beautiful walk on a boardwalk through the understory of a drove of Taxodium distichum. They were some of the largest I'd ever seen (and Christopher was wonderful enough to volunteer later to be my human yardstick so I could really show how large they were). After we left the boardwalk, however, there was a lot of evidence of invasive species. Ligustrum sinensis had taken over most of the understory and was working on choking out the overstory. It was a sad sight to see after such a beautiful stand of bald cypress. It was heartening to see their efforts to control the Phyllostachys though! Keep it up, USFWS!
Our next and final stop was just across the road at a peninsula extending out into the Tennessee River. Our first impressions were full of more invasive species, including an Ilex cornuta, Chinese holly (which is a good argument again selling 'Carissa' hollies!!), which I took the liberty of taking out with my hand saw. It was hard to see any native shrubs and herbs through the thicket. There was a healthy overstory of pines, hickories and oaks though. A very interesting diversity of trees, which we'd hardly paid attention to the couple days before.
But finally, as we moved farther away from the trailhead, we started to see more natives than invasives, and then the invasives faded out almost completely. What came into view was a rich understory of native herbs and native azaleas. We saw at least three species of native deciduous azaleas: Rhododendron periclymenoides, R. alabamense and R. canescens. Just like with our experiences with the Trillium the days before, we saw one thicket of azaleas and then we'd look closer and see more and more. I was also heartened by the few healthy Cornus florida I saw as well.
~~~
And all of that was 50 hours curb to curb. Overall, it was an amazing adventure that turning into more than a pilgrimage for Trillium. It was an intensive field course in woodland ephemerals and the simple beauty in natural vignettes. It inspired me to bring more natural elements into the landscape and proves Mother Nature has better taste than I do.
 |
| This is probably one of my favorite vignettes at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens: Sanguinaria canadensis, bloodroot; Trillium cuneatum, sweet betsy; Thalictrum thalictroides; and Xanthorhiza simplicissima, yellowroot. |
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, and we were still getting the logistics ironed out, but the trip was still on! Whew.
I started the long drive up Interstate 65 the overcast morning of April 2, IDing plants as I drove (and man, there were some impressive Cornus florida and a handful of Chionanthus virginicus). The weather held off for me until I got to Birmingham, when a thunderstorm of epic proportions chased me to the airport where Christopher was just about to land....(and yes, his pilot landed in the middle of the thunderstorm).
We started our epic journey with pizza. No! Who has time for food when there are awesome plants waiting to be found?!
 |
| Dodecatheon meadia, shooting-star, Primulaceae. Click for more photos. |
We closed down the Birmingham Botanical Garden (and killed our cameras) and then made the drive to Huntsville to stay the night.
~~~
The next morning we got up to an overcast, humid morning, but our stop for breakfast made it all better. Christopher made an excellent find with the Mason Dixon Bakery. It was a great way to start the day!
We headed over to the Huntsville Botanical Garden first thing to meet up with Carol for a tour of the garden and the Trillium collection they are hoping to get NAPCC certified. It was a happy reunion and Christopher and I were quickly whisked off in a 6-seater golf cart with Harold Howard, the Trillium man.
 |
| Trillium pusilum, Melantiaceae. Click for more photos of the nursery. |
We were whisked off to the actual outplanted Trillium collection and the native wildflower area as soon as we could pry ourselves away from the nursery. Just countless "one more Trillium"s later, Carol, Christopher and I had gotten the crash course of a lifetime in the 28 species of Trillium Huntsville had. I was furiously taking notes and pictures and asking questions, and time flew by until my body reminded me it was lunchtime.
 |
| Trillium in the Woodland Garden at Huntsville Botanical Garden. Click for more photos. |
Carol drove us through the rest of the garden, including the clever children's garden and butterfly house. Sadly it was a little early for the butterflies, but I guess I'll just have to see them on my next visit!
As if the morning-long tour wasn't enough, Christopher and I made out like bandits with Trillium flexipes, Asarum and Hexastylis, as well as several different native azaleas (which is exactly why I keep plastic in the back of my car)!
After a tasty lunch from the garden cafe and a wonderful discussion about what we learned that day, we made our way to Monte Sano State Park, the mountain that loomed over Huntsville, to hunt for wild Trillium. The southeastern side of the mountain was a sheltered valley and looked promising after appraising the nice $3 map we got with our entrance fee.
 |
| Shades of spring in the canopy of the forest at Monte Sano. Click for more photos. |
The overlook we parked at presented a beautiful view of the valley below and allowed us to feel the breath of spring coming up from it. We started on the Sinks Trail, slowly making our way to the trailhead down the hillside. At first it wasn't looking promising as the understory seemed empty, but as well looked closer the ephemerals of all sorts came into focus. And the Trillium appeared in great swaths. Score.
 |
| A ring of Jeffersonia diphylla, Cardamine concatenata, and an unknown herb. |
We had to keep moving, though the going was slow. Every five feet was a new plant, a new photo we had to take. Everywhere I looked there was something astounding about the landscape: the contour of the hill, the way the light lit up the emerging leaves on the trees, the towering trees, the stream we came upon. Everything. It was all as if we'd stepped into a fantasy world you only read about in botanical fairy tales.
 |
| Mertensia virginica, Virginia Bluebells, Boraginaceae |
But I could hear thunder whispering in the distance and I could tell there was a warning in the air, so it was time to move on. The sun had disappeared behind the mountain towering over us and we had to make it out of the park before sundown. Time to move.
We booked it up the hill and down an adjoining trail back to our car. We got a few more photos out of our phones, playing hopscotch with each other as we tried to hurry down the path while also taking photos. Just as we were starting the final ascent, the thunder cracked above us and the rain came in a gentle, steady stream. We made it back to the car just a little damp.
But the view as we drove back down the mountain was incredible. The sun was setting, emerging from the clouds clearing the horizon. There was another dark warning coming on the western horizon, but for the moment we could enjoy the beautiful sunset, a few more healthy clumps of Trillium cuneatum and some Mason Dixon Gluten-free cupcakes.
~~~
 |
| An ocean of Mertenisa virginica in the morning sun. Click for more photos of the morning. |
for a follow-up trek to see some more of what we missed. It was surprisingly chilly that morning, in the mid-40s by the time we got to the top of the mountain. With out hand firmly buried in our pockets, we descended into the valley as the sun was lighting the mountain side. It seemed spring had taken a queue from the sunshine and a deeper haze of green lit the canopy around us. It was a brisk jaunt and very successful.
We'd started our morning with a minimal breakfast, so it was off to another lovely gluten-free place! We fueled up and then we were off to our final stop: Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge.
It was still chilly in Decatur and it seemed the Saturday morning was prohibitive to many hikers. We stopped in the visitor's center to get our bearings and found out there really weren't many hiking trails. It makes sense, since it is a wildlife refuge, not a human recreation area. We found some trails though and so it was out to the Cypress Trail.
 |
| Clear morning path through the cypress swamp. Click for more photos. |
It started as a beautiful walk on a boardwalk through the understory of a drove of Taxodium distichum. They were some of the largest I'd ever seen (and Christopher was wonderful enough to volunteer later to be my human yardstick so I could really show how large they were). After we left the boardwalk, however, there was a lot of evidence of invasive species. Ligustrum sinensis had taken over most of the understory and was working on choking out the overstory. It was a sad sight to see after such a beautiful stand of bald cypress. It was heartening to see their efforts to control the Phyllostachys though! Keep it up, USFWS!
 |
| Although not robust, these native azaleas made up for it in stature and the breadth of their colonies. |
But finally, as we moved farther away from the trailhead, we started to see more natives than invasives, and then the invasives faded out almost completely. What came into view was a rich understory of native herbs and native azaleas. We saw at least three species of native deciduous azaleas: Rhododendron periclymenoides, R. alabamense and R. canescens. Just like with our experiences with the Trillium the days before, we saw one thicket of azaleas and then we'd look closer and see more and more. I was also heartened by the few healthy Cornus florida I saw as well.
~~~
And all of that was 50 hours curb to curb. Overall, it was an amazing adventure that turning into more than a pilgrimage for Trillium. It was an intensive field course in woodland ephemerals and the simple beauty in natural vignettes. It inspired me to bring more natural elements into the landscape and proves Mother Nature has better taste than I do.
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