Mountain Wildflowers

CURRENT Mountain Wildflowers

Trumpet Honeysuckle. Credit Joe Cook

August’s Mountain Wildflower: Trumpet Honeysuckle

Like spotted jewelweed and trumpet tine, the flower’s deep throat and red color make it attractive to ruby-throated hummingbirds, who are its main pollinators.
Oxeye Daisy. Credit Joe Cook and Monica Sheppard

July’s Mountain Wildflower: Oxeye Daisy

The oxeye daisy is a member of the composite family, which American naturalist Roger Tory Peterson believed to be the most recent one to make its appearance on Earth. 
Mountain Laurel. Credit Leonard M. Adkins

June’s Mountain Wildflower: Mountain Laurel

If you are out in the fall, stop to examine the small capsules on the mountain laurel; these were once the plant’s flowers in May, June, and July.
Mayapple. Credit Joe Cook and Monica Sheppard

May’s Mountain Wildflower: Mayapple

Despite its name, the fruit, which looks more like a yellowish-green, egg-shaped berry than an apple, usually does not begin to develop until early to mid-summer.
Trout Lilly. Credit Joe Cook and Monica Sheppard

April’s Mountain Wildflower: Trout Lily

Like its western relative the glacier lily (Erythronium grandiflorum), trout lily (Erythronium americanum) is often found pushing its way through a blanket of snow in early spring.

Departments

Vibrant Monarch butterfly clings to its translucent dew covered cocoon
Creature Feature

Monarch Mimickers

It’s easy to mistake other orange species for the king of fall butterflies.

At Coopers Rock State Forest, new Stargazer cabins invite guests to look up through skylights and telescopes.
Country Roads

Even Closer to Almost Heaven

New Stargazer cabins at Coopers Rock State Forest offer a skyward escape in the mountains of West Virginia.

©Duncan Seaman
Country Roads

A Mountain Tradition Turns 90 

Visitors flock to Galax, Virginia, each summer for the Old Fiddlers’ Convention, a days-long celebration of Appalachian music.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS