Mountain Wildflowers

You've probably figured out by now that I really, really love flowers.  Yes, I'm smitten with them and have been for as long as I can remember.  Not only do I like to plant them and watch them grow, take pictures of them, and put them in my house to enjoy; I also like to try and identify them when I see them in a garden or growing along the roadside.

A few weeks ago when we were in the mountains, we drove across the Cherohala Skyway from North Carolina to Tennessee.  We did this a few years ago, and I wrote about it Here.  This year, I was just bowled over by all the wildflowers we saw growing along both sides of the road almost the entire length of the skyway.  It was amazing!  I've never seen such a profusion of wildflowers -- it's like they were on steroids.

I was able to identify 11 different varieties of wildflowers this year (I had to look up some of them online); that's the most I've ever seen in one area.  These flowers were so pretty, I felt like most gardeners would be pleased to have them in their own gardens.  Yet they were just growing wild with no one tending them but Mother Nature.  Have a look and see what you think... 

   Wild Phlox

The Blue Waters Mountain Lodge

In July, I wrote a short post about our trip to the mountains of western North Carolina, but I wanted to share some more details and pictures of the trip with you.  Our destination was the small town of Robbinsville, NC -- more specifically the Blue Waters Mountain Lodge on Lake Santeetlah.  I wrote about the Blue Waters last year, and you can read that post Here.  I took lots of pictures of the interior of the lodge last year; I'll try not to repeat those this year, because I have some new things to show you.

The Blue Waters Lodge is aptly named because this is the view directly across the street from the lodge.

Roadside Beauty On The Cherohala Skyway

Yesterday, we drove the length of the Cherohala Skyway which runs across the crest of the Unicoi Mountains.  The Cherohala Skyway crosses through the Cherokee and Nantahala National Forests, connecting Tellico Plains in southeast Tennessee to Robbinsville, in western North Carolina.  The skyway's name comes from a combination of the two forests --Chero from Cherokee and hala from Nantahala.  This two-lane blacktop covers 40 plus miles and rises to an elevation of 5,390 feet, at its highest point.

The views from the overlooks are amazing, but one of my favorite things is the wildflowers that grow next to the roadside all along the skyway.  This year, we finally took the opportunity to photograph some of these flowers.  One flower that I had particularly wanted pics of is the Turk's Cap Lily.  I've been admiring it from the car in previous years, but we've just never found the time or the right spot to stop and take pictures.  This year, we got lucky.  In addition to Turk's Cap Lily, we photographed some wild, miniature Daisies; wild Phlox; Queen Anne's Lace; Clover flowers; tiny, wild blackberries, and...a Dandelion spore.  :) 

Mr. Forest Manor is the best nature photographer at our house, hands down.  He also has the better camera, a DSLR, which I'm certainly welcome to use, but I'm not very proficient with it yet.  I normally just use our digital point and shoot.

The first mosaic is comprised from my hubby's pictures.  I thought they turned out fantastic.

I forgot to mention there are butterflies galore on the skyway this time of year.  This particular one was very accommodating during the photo shoot.

The second mosaic is of my pictures, which were taken with the point and shoot camera.  I took more, but they just weren't that terrific.  I thought these were the best of the bunch.  I did have fun trying, though.  Doesn't the Queen Anne's Lace look just like a snowflake?

I'm joining the other folks at Mosaic Monday, hosted by Mary at Little Red House.  I hope you'll stop by to see all the other mosaics by some really talented photographers and thank you, Mary, for hosting!

So glad you visited House at Forest Manor -- have a great Monday!

Denise