Blue Ridge Parkway in Bloom

I’m hoping I’ll have a reason to travel to Chateau Morrisette this week (to leave note cards for sale in the Winery Tasting Room store.)

The native pink azaleas (Pinxter Flower, or Rhododendron nudiflorum as I learned it, now R. periclymenoides) was just beginning to bloom when I was over that way last week, but should be at peak in some places in Floyd County’s high-country parts of the Parkway. Click for larger view.

Ferns are springing up everywhere in the wetlands where the skunk cabbage began to appear in early April. You’ll miss almost all the interesting wildflowers at 45 miles an hour  –the legal Parkway speed limit.

So stop pretty much anywhere you can find to safely pull off the road. Wander around slowly within the National Park’s narrow confines, and I can say with some certainty you’ll find something blooming (or lichens, mosses or other non-flowering plants) worth your time.