Plant of the Week

This weeks plant of the week is another one native to the Smokey Mountains. It may be an easy guess but its a plant worth talking about. It likes the shade and gets plenty of what it likes in the mountains!

Take a guess and tell me what you think!

Plant of the Week: Flame Azalea

Rhododendron calendulaceum

This week's Plant of the Week was the Flame Azalea. Most people answered it pretty close. This is actually a native plant to the Smokey Mountains. It grows from four to eight feet tall and spreads out somewhere between ten to fifteen feet. My wife and I found this particular plant in 2003 along the Abram's Falls trail. We took the pictures on the way up the trail but sadly when we came back down the trail they were gone. The fiery orange petals could be seen strewn up and down the trail. Several children destroyed them while their parents watched. The National Parks are there for people to learn and observe nature in its beauty. Kids will be kids but it's up to the parents to impress upon their children the importance of preservation. It was a missed opportunity for the parents of these children to discuss the purpose of the National Parks. There are many other flame azaleas in other areas of the park but these were the only ones we saw on that trail. It's just too bad that those people who followed the children up the trail didn't get to see the flame azaleas that day.

Plant of the Week:Oak

The plant of the week this past week was an oak tree. This tree is actually in West Tennessee at my wife's grandmother's house. It is a very large and majestic tree that provides great shade and a bounty of acorns each year. The picture was taken from the base of the tree looking up at the canopy. As for the exact type of oak I suspect it is one of two possible candidates: the willow oak or the shingle oak.

The willow oak and shingle oak can be sometimes be confused due to the similar nature of their leaves. Each leaf is narrow and oval shaped as opposed to the ridged and pointed leaves of other oaks. The leaves of the shingle oak (Quercus imbricaria) tend to be longer than the willow oak (Quercus phellos).

For more information and a quick identification guide follow this link (pdf file):
The University of Tennessee Extension: Identifying Oak Trees Native to Tennessee

Plant of the Week:Hemlock

Most people got it right! The correct answer was the hemlock. The Canadian Hemlock or Tsuga canadesis is a great plant to use as an evergreen screen or a specimen tree. It has the potential to grow between 40-70 feet tall and could spread up between 25-35 feet in diameter. Its foliage is soft and feathery unlike many other evergreen trees. Hemlocks produce cones with seeds that are eaten by a number of birds. A great tree for wildlife, the hemlock is facing a devastating predator: the woolly adelgid. This little insect is destroying many of these magnificent trees.

We planted four little hemlocks to eventually become a privacy screen along our property line.

Plant of the Week: Honeysuckle

The plant of the week this past week was correctly guessed by several people. It is a honeysuckle vine. This particular one is sprawling up the lamp post outside my parent's home. I suspect that it is a trumpet honeysuckle or coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens). It was there before they purchased the house so I can't be 100% sure of what variety it is. One thing is for sure it isn't the invasive take-over-the-world kind that exists over much of the south. This native honeysuckle tends to grow slower than the Japanese variety that has proven to be invasive since it was brought to the United State's in the 1800's to control erosion. Honeysuckle is very attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies as well as other birds who like to munch on the berries. If you choose to plant honeysuckle make sure it is a native, the Japanese variety doesn't need your help!

Plant of the Week
Other Plants of the Week

Plant of the Week

Here is the new plant of the week. Obviously this is an old picture since nothing is growing right now, but here's a little taste of the spring to come. This isn't from our yard but it is a nice example of a vine being used to accent a structure. Go ahead and make an educated guess!

Plant of the Week

I've been neglectful of this feature this past week. So in an effort to get back on track after the holidays here is this week's Plant of the Week! Let the commenting begin!

Plant of the Week: Trillium grandiflorum

This plant of the week resembling a swooping bird is known as Trillium grandiflorum! Trillium is a member of a group of plants called the ephemerals. And no, it is not some sort of new rock band, but a group of flowers that appear in late winter and go through a two month cycle. They flower, seed, and die back to dormancy within that cycle. Trillium is an under story plant that has adapted to deciduous forests. When the leaves of the trees are gone this little flower uses the available light to grow. Its flowers bloom white and gradually change to the pink color above as it fades. According to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park website there are ten varieties of trillium in the park! Take a look at the link and read about some other wildflowers in the Smokies.

This is a picture from one of our many visits into the park.