Where in Five Forks is this?  If you have walked or driven by it, I'm sure you would have noticed.  

 

These Zinnias are about 3 feet tall, and so cheerful, you can't miss them.  Rosalie told me they just threw seeds into this rock enclosure, and boy, did they take off!  I want some of THOSE seeds.  I'm sure I  can collect some as soon as the flowers die.  See the feathery leaves?  I'm guessing  that's Coreopsis or maybe Cosmos, and I see big Marigolds in there too.  

 

Oh, I guess I just blew the quiz.  Rosalie and Web Bailey are new residents on the north ridge.  They just finished their beautiful house last fall, and moved in as full-time residents.  I hope you will welcome them to the neighborhood when you go up to see this fabulous wildflower garden.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

Look what else we saw on the trail.  Blackberries.  Did you know that blackberries are related to roses?  Yep, same family.  Look at the leaves and thorns.  And the flowers are very similar too.  Blackberries are often called brambles, cause they grow from rhizomes and form thickets.  (Thickets rife with chiggers;  AAK!!!)

 

The blackberries in our neighborhood haven't been so prolific in the last few years, but I remember picking gallons of them in the past.  

 

Hey, I've got a great cobbler recipe;  I'll add it in the recipe section.  Just look at the bottom of the Neighbors Sharing in the menu.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

Can you just imagine how many times I passed out on our hike up Blood Mountain?  Well, not literally, but I WAS thrilled to my bones.  

 

Seek told me this is Starry Campion.  Never seen it in the wild, only in my wildflower picture books.  It is so soft and feathery, you can't help but love it.  Once it was identified, we saw hundreds of them!!!

 

OK, the books tell me:  Starry Campion is in the same family as Chickweed, Fire Pinks, and Carnations:  Caryophyllaceae.  It's botanical name is Silene stellata.  They are native perennials through most of the eastern half of the United States, but infrequent in the rich woods of our mountains.  The Wildflowers of North Carolina book suggests growing it from seed in your wild garden.  I wonder where one gets seeds for this!!!!

 

Anyway, it was so fun to see them all up and down the mountain.  

 

Psst:  This picture that I took is better than the one in the book.  ;).

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Now, you KNOW, I just about passed out when we came upon this in the woods.  This flower stalk stands about 2 feet tall.  Had to use the Seek app to identify it, because I'd never seen one before.  

 

So I looked it up in the Wildflower books, and this is what I found:  Its botanical name is Platanthera ciliaris.  And it's in the Orchid family.  These native orchids grow in peaty or wet, sandy woods, thickets, and dry meadows and slopes, from New York to Florida, and west to Texas, and bloom from July to September.  That makes me think they are common, but

 

My wildflower book says this:  "Please do not dig or cut!"  That tells me they are rare and/or endangered.  

 

I hope you you get to see a yellow fringed orchid when you're out in the woods; it was very exciting!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

 

The sunflowers are blooming now in the garden.  Some of them are 10 feet tall!!!!  We have to stake them against the north wind, but they're still beautiful.

 

Here's a good word for you:  phototropism.  Sunflowers are phototropic, meaning they move with the sun.  They face the east in the morning, then move around to the south, then face west by the end of the day.  They are fascinating to see.

 

There is a big patch of sunflowers on Mocassin Creek Road, near the mobile home park.  They are really pretty right now!!!  Hope you get to see them in your travels.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

LOOK!!!  The persimmons are getting bigger.  Right now, they are about the size of cherries and green.  By October or November, they will be about the size of ping pong balls and bright orange.  You'll be able to see them from the road at 25 miles an hour, maybe 45, if you know what you're looking for.  
 

There are several other species of Persimmons, but Diospyros virginiana, the American Persimmon, is native to the eastern United States.  The trees are usually tall: 30-50 feet, but this one is only about 15 feet tall, making the persimmons a good height off the ground, so the deer can't get them ALL.  There are several trees down by the creek, near the Chestnut trees.  Be careful, though, there's lots of poison ivy down there.  
 

The fruits are edible, and delicious. They remind me of apricot jam.  They are ripe in the fall, but they're sweeter after a frost.  We look for ripe ones on the ground, and try them.  If you've never tasted a persimmon, you should give it a try.  If you have tasted an unripe one, I'm sure you remember it.  Momma's description was that it "turns your mouth wrong side out."  Excellent.  And SO true.

 

Next time you walk the loop, look for the persimmon tree.  You'll be glad you found it when the persimmons are ripe.  Be sure to leave me a couple.  
 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!
 

 

 

 

 

Sumac blooming on Stonebriar just above the Elders'.  It's right on the corner, looking beautiful.  There are lots of them all over the neighborhood and in the surrounding area.  You can see them along the roadways, and peeking out from the woods.  
 

Sumac is in the Cashew family, in the genus Rhus.  There are lots of species in the genus Rhus, including poison ivy, poison oak, and different sumacs.  The Sumacs are small trees or shrubs with feathery compound leaves.  Each leaf has between 7-21 leaflets.  You can see them in the picture.  The flowers are small and green and grow in these pyramidal clusters.  I'm pretty sure these are Winged Sumac, Rhus copallina.  But definitely NOT poison Sumac, which is easily recognized by its straw colored berries in loose clusters on purplish stalks, and its preference for swamps and bogs.  
 

The deer browse on the leaves; and there are honey bees all over it too, meaning there will be berries later on.  Birds depend on the berries in winter when other fruit may be scarce.  We've seen cardinals, bluebirds, and woodpeckers in our Sumacs eating the berries all winter.  
 

Be on the lookout for Winged Sumac in your travels, they are all around.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!
 

 

 

While I was taking the picture of the Hydrangeas at the church, I saw these shrubs in bloom.  Beautyberry, or Callicarpa.

 

Beautyberry is easy to spot in late summer, when it has clusters of magenta berries all along the stems.  But when I saw it, I noticed that it is just blooming, with some green berries.  Thought you might like to see this stage of its development.  I'll post its picture when the berries turn.  It is really pretty then too.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Here's how they look from the parking lot.  A single bush is pretty, but mass plantings really say something!! 
 

This picture shows three bushes, each about 10 feet tall.  There are probably 10 bushes in this planting, and there are several others this big in the same area of the parking lot.  They are breathtaking from the road.  And, there's another hedge of these on the four lane in Blairsville, near the McDonald's.  Go see them.
 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

We see these beautiful Hydrangeas at the Methodist church in Blairsville, across from Meeks Park.  They are magnificent!!!  They were probably planted in 2006 when the MAC was built, making them 14 years old.  They are planted in a huge bank, creating a hedge between parking areas.  It's worth the drive to go see them.  

 

I tried to find the species name for you, but what I learned is that there are 70-75 species of Hydrangeas.  And none of the pix looked exactly like these.  
 

Just go see them in Blairsville;  they are wonderful.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!