There are an array of wildflowers to be seen in the North Georgia Mountains this time of year! I look forward to seeing everything come back to life after a long winter. Appalachia is filled with a rich variety of wildflowers, and one of the many beauties of Noontootla Creek Farms is the ability to see them anywhere! As a conservationist, it is a thrill to look for native wildflowers as things begin to bloom. Native plants are such a great indicator that the land has been cared for a long time, as they have always been there, and the ecosystem they have always known continues to thrive! An easy way to see some native flowers in bloom is by taking a lap around the sporting clays course! Grab your shooting partner, your gun, and a golf cart and shoot a round of clays while keeping an eye out for the native blooms! One of the first things you’ll see in bloom would be dogwoods and red buds. These begin to bloom in early April. An easy one to spot is mountain laurel & rhododendron. They have big green leaves and white blooms with a tad of pink! While the shrubs and trees are beautiful, the tricker thing is to spot the flowers. One that I always love to search for is a trout lily. They have speckled leaves and the sweetest little bloom. While the name may lead you to believe that they are only near a trout stream, that is certainly not the case! You can find these blooms in any forest with rich soil. Some other favorites you’ll continue to see throughout the summer are lady slippers, trillium, azalea, and wild iris, just to name a few. Here a list of blooms to keep your eyes peeled for on the course:
- Blood Root
- Trout Lilly
- Trillium
- Blue Violets
- Carolina Silverbell
- Dutchman’s Breeches
- Dwarf Crested Iris
- False Solomon’s Seal
- Foam Flowers
- Lady’s Slipper – Pink and Yellow
- Mayapple
- Mountain Laurel
- Trillium
- Flame Azalea
- Jack-in-the-Pulpit
- Fire Pink
- Rhododendron
- Wild Iris
