What’s blooming on the trails this week? The crape myrtle, sourwood and mimosa trees are flowering. This year, I’ve noticed that the white crape myrtle flowers come out first, followed by the lavender flowers. I haven’t seen any trees with pink or red flowers yet. Does it always happen that way?
For small plants, I have seen trumpet creeper, whorled coreopsis, calliopsis, Carolina wild petunia, soft golden aster, heal-all, Maryland meadow beauty, pale spiked lobelia, white sweetclover, slender mountain-mint, Piedmont St. John’s-wort, water hemlock, wild sweetpotato, toothed white-topped aster, spotted St. John’s-wort, large buttonweed, bull thistle, water lily, reclining St. Andrew’s cross, Texas yellow flax, common partridge pea, field garlic, Small’s black-snakeroot, frost grape, and muscadine grape.
The blackberries are red, with a few fully ripe, black berries mixed in. The elderberries are finishing their flowering and are forming berries now.
Have you noticed that it’s quieter outside? The periodical cicadas have died off during the first week of June. The annual cicadas are just starting to come out now.
Let me know what you’re seeing on the trails!