The purpose of the Society is to encourage interest in and to disseminate knowledge about rhododendrons and azaleas. Last updated: October 21, 2022 Was this page helpful? It is unclear what causes these big bloom years or when they will happen. While flowers bloom year-round depending on elevation in different areas of the park, springtime offers the widest selection of trails to explore. We share photos and trade information on flower locations. Spring is also a great time to spot wildlife, especially newborn babies like bear cubs and elk calves. The colors come from the species, not the weather. How To Tell if a Cat is Feral 6 Things To Look For, 6 Types of Water Snakes in Illinois (Pictures), Roan Mountain at the top there is a Rhododendron garden full of Catawbas. The weather is cooler and less humid than the summer months, making it a great time to hit low-elevation trails. . Showy trees such as serviceberry, silverbell, flowering dogwood, redbud, Fraser magnolia, and tuliptree soon follow. It thrives around streams and in ravines at elevations below 5,000 feet (1,524 meters). You can find them on dry, steep banks in elevations between 1,500 and 2,500 feet. Learn more. Theres nothing quite like fall in the Smoky Mountains. Before you go: Now is the perfect time to start tracking your gardening progress, and I created a garden journal to do exactly that. Craggy Gardens. Great Smoky Mountains National . were in flower on the 8 th of May and R. calendulaceum was blooming on the 18 th . Photo credits: campbearcabins.com, flickr.com, Asheville Website Design by The Wired MouseWebsite Edited by Ray Access, About Simply Appalachian and Becky Rogers. Along the highest peaks it flowers in late June. If you are looking for the very best place to be in a rhododendron garden, then north of the GSMNP in the Cherokee National Forest is Roan Mountain. This is a geolocation cookie to understand where the users sharing the information are located. Within Results. It's a great ground cover, as it self-seeds prolifically, and it is also a perennial plant, returning year after year. Females with newly born cubs usually emerge from their winter dens in late March or early April. Mountain Laurel blooms in the Smokies from May through early June. Smoky Mountains Fall Foliage Forecast It's FULL BLOOM everywhere, especially on the Rainbow Falls trail to LeConte. The first flowers typically appear in late March in northern Georgia, from Atlanta to the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Traveler tips, no extra charge: Craggy Gardens (mile 364, about 17 miles northeast of Asheville, North Carolina) is a great place to visit, especially in mid-June when the Catawba rhododendrons are at their peak. Your experience may vary, but now that you know the primary variables temperature, elevation and date you should be able to chase the bloom yourself. The Catawba rhododendron is the source of the pinkish swatches of color that cover the high elevations. There are, however, certain species that take a bit longer, so its important that you take that into account. Or, for a more moderate winter adventure, hike to Laurel Falls. Wildflowers of the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains turns a day hike or drive through our nation's most beautiful and rugged expanse of forested . Bloom peaks along the Parkway in Virginia are usually earlier than in North Carolina due to lower elevation. Some might continue blooming all the way into the first weeks of summer as well. One to four cubs are born during the mother's winter sleep, usually in late January or early February. The White, or Rosebay, variety is most often seen along the creeks at all elevations. . From the earliest hepaticas and spring-beauties in the late winter to the last asters in the late fall, blooming flowers can be found year-round in the park. Another member of the Rhododendron family that blooms brilliantly in the park is the Flame Azalea. The blooming rhododendrons are gorgeous to see, but you might also want to take a short hike to the observation deck at Roan High Bluff. Tennessee's Roan Mountain State Park recently won the 2016 Park of the Year for how well the staff manages the park. Reply. You need to at least wait a few months and see when the plant actually blooms. Temperatures are much milder than the summer months, with highs cooling from the 80s to the 50s as the season progresses. Blooming time is April and May in the pine and oak forests at low to mid-elevations, but not until June or early July on the mountain tops. It is native to the woodland slopes and ridges in the eastern United States along the Appalachian Mountain range, specifically in the Catawba region in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The park is so well-known for its diverse flowering plants that its sometimes called Wildflower National Park.. While lower park elevations often see winter daytime temperatures in the 50s, it can get much colder and snowier at higher elevations. They also have a variety of different cultivar names as well. Flame azaleas bloom at the low and mid-elevations in April and May. Your email address will not be published. The gardens are atop the mountains on the Tennessee - North Carolina border. Are the rhododendrons blooming in the Smokies? What month do rhododendrons flower? Autumn leaves drop in Lynn Prong Creek in Great Smoky Mountains National Park Photo: Norman Lathrop. Want this question answered? The higher you go in the mountains, the later the bloom season. It is spelled "Smoky Mountains" The term Smokey is a slang term for a police officer, because Smokey the Bear wears a trooper hat.) Rhododendron blooms range in color from white to yellow, pink, orange, red and purple. When blooming they produce beautiful white flowers. The hillsides, valleys and peaks of the Smoky Mountains are covered with color in the late spring and early summer. Flowers appear in late March to mid-May, and they bloom for several months after that, from midsummer to fall. Its white and pink flowers bloom from early May through June on trails and roadways throughout the park. The Rhododendron in the Smoky Mountains fall to two types: Rosebay and Catawba. What makes Roan Mountain unique is its famous Catawba Rhododendron fields. Good places to see it include Andrews Bald, Alum Cave Trail, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and above the Chimney Tops Trailhead. You should know that the plant usually requires at least three weeks to turn a conventional bud into a full grown flower. It works slightly different from AWSELB. I know that where I live, most houses on the street will have at least one bush in their yard. Catawba usually reaches its peak of bloom along the Newfound Gap Road in the first half of June. If in doubt, call the Park Visitor Center for current conditions. Rhododendrons. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". The length of the blooming period also plays an important role, especially if you have several varieties of the rhododendron planted in your garden. They bloom from April through June and sometimes into July. In Cataloochee, you might hear the sounds of elk bugling or see bulls tussling during the annual elk mating ritual known as the rut. Harvest festivals abound in the nearby towns, and orchards around the park are awash in apples and pumpkins. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages visted in an anonymous form. When hiking in the park, have a way to communicate. Mid-June to July is the bloom time for the wild Smoky Mountains Rhododendrons. Blooming occurs in April and May at the low to mid elevations, and June to early July in the upper elevations. . "Wildflowers don't particularly stick to the map, and, you know, some years, you can have great things in surprising places, even just along any of our overlooks as well," Wise said. At 6,627, the bluff is one of the highest peaks in the Appalachian Mountains. Trees and shrubs bloom throughout the year too. While every month of the year has both pros and cons, we have two favorite times to visit the park: spring and fall. The year ends with the yellow flowers of witch-hazel, which blooms from October through January. Go Auto Touring on Historic Park Roads. The peak blooming period begins in early June at the 3,500 ft elevation. rhododendron, (genus Rhododendron), diverse genus of about 1,000 species of woody flowering plants in the heath family (Ericaceae), notable for their attractive flowers and handsome foliage. Mountain laurel blooms in early May. This cookie is set by Google. Parking Program Info, More than 1500 species of wildflowers are native to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, more than any other national park. To avoid that, make sure you add a bit of peat moss or vermiculite into the mix as well. Needless to say, when you visit, you'll be getting the best Tennessee has to offer. Parking tags will NOT be required for motorists who pass through the area or who park for less than 15 minutes, or while parked at their designated campsite. It can truly be a sight to behold. They begin blooming in early June at elevations above 3,500 feet and will continue to reach their peak at higher elevations as the month wears on. The colors vary, and if you have several kinds of rhododendrons in your garden, it wont be long before the entire garden is covered in different hues. Box 509Bryson City, NC 28713, Order a free Visitor Guide featuring Bryson City and the North Carolina Smokies. The Cataloochee and Cades Cove areas of the park are ideal if youre hoping to spot some serious cuteness. They are one of the most popular blooms to see in the park. Do not rely on your cell phone because there may not be cellular For more on the Great Smoky Mountains, check out our YouTube playlist: While wildflowers bloom year-round depending on elevation in different areas of the national park, springtime offers the widest selection of trails to explore. Wildflowers bloom from late February thru September. In summer the display continues with brilliant red cardinal flowers, pink turtleheads, Turks cap lily, small purple-fringed orchids, bee-balm, butterfly-weed, black-eyed susans, jewel weed, and many others. Common in fields and along roadside. Azaleas bloom in pink, red, orange, yellow, white, purple, and lavender. What time of the year do rhododendrons bloom in North Carolina? Another perk of visiting in the spring is watching . The Purple, or Catawba, variety is more often seen at high elevations along hillside trails. Azaleas bloom in April and have 5 stamens, and rhododendrons bloom later in the spring and have 10 stamens. When blooming, they have bright pinkish-purple flowers. Wildflower . When pioneer botanist William Bartram discovered flame azaleas in 1791, he described the plant as certainly the most gay and brilliant flowering shrub yet known. Catawba rhododendron, which lives primarily at elevations above 3,500, reaches it peak of bloom in June. Catawba rhododendron, which lives primarily at elevations above 3,500 feet, peaks in June. Occasionally the majority of the shrubs will all bloom during the same year, this is called a super bloom or a big bloom. Catawbas leaves are thick, shiny, and evergreen, much like those of rosebay rhododendron. Rhododendrons are native chiefly in the north temperate zone, especially in the moist acidic soil of the Himalayas and into Southeast Asia to the mountains of New Guinea. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. Gatlinburg They are both beautiful shrubs and among the most eagerly awaited wildflowers blooms in the Smokies. This is also a time when soil moisture is high and soil nutrients are plentiful due to the decomposition of tree leaves that fell the previous autumn. AWSALB is a cookie generated by the Application load balancer in the Amazon Web Services. Leave it there for somebody else to enjoy.". When Do Geraniums Bloom? It takes a little effort to get there, but will be well worth the trek. Roundtrip the hike is about 3.5 miles. Bring bug spray and wear long pants and sleeves to avoid a run-in with a blood sucker. Big blooms occur every 2-4 years when a higher percentage of the shrubs bear flowers, but researchers are not certain exactly when or why these happen. Rhododendrons dont like lots of sun and tend to be in the shady areas of the park and along the streams and creeks. Are rhododendron native to Tennessee? You will want to make sure that you provide a high-quality liquid fertilizer and add it after every few weeks to the plant. Some of the largest are found in the Greenbrier section of the Park. Wildflowers of the Smokies By continuing to use our site, you consent to our policies and to our use of cookies. Mountain Laurel is an evergreen shrub that is native to the eastern United States. Nights are mild, making it a great time of year to tent-camp or backpack. Suggested wildflower walks. It could cause issues such as fungus gnats or worse, root rot, and you will notice the flowers drooping as well. Visit US Wildflowers Database of Wildflowers for Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The trail was strewn with delicate blossoms knocked off by recent rains. Different rhododendron species bloom at different times of the year, normally from late March to late June. It does not store any personal data. You will have to make sure that you provide some frost protection, and when you do that, you will notice that the bloom period will be slightly extended. Temperatures and other weather conditions can trigger an early season or a late season, while different rhododendron species typically blossom at different times. The blooms appear first at the lower park elevations in June, but can be seen at all elevations < 5,000 ft by July and August. The mountain laurel start blooming in May. When do rhododendrons bloom in North Carolina? Azaleas flower on many stems like an umbrella. The hillsides are alight in reds, yellows and oranges and it feels like youve stumbled into a fairytale at every turn. However, the peak wildflower season is mid-to-late April when the spring ephemerals make their appearance. If you are in Gatlinburg, please stop in at my gallery . To get to Spence Field, hike the Anthony Creek trail to the end, then pick up the Bote Mountain Trail all the way to the top. So a clump that you were particularly taken with last year may not bloom at all this year. The colorful spectacle even spreads into eastern Tennessee, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. Over 1600 species of flowering plants live in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park which is why it's sometimes called the "Wildflower National Park." With the spring season approaching, what could be better than a weekend getaway to see one of the world's most mesmerizing floral regions in all its full bloom splendor. When do Rhododendron, Flame Azalea, and Mountain Laurel bloom? This cookies is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos. You have got something that's living in there for food or for shelter," Wise said. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Advertisement". Historical records show that the peak bloom for these Flame Azaleas is between June 13th and June 24th. It's that beautiful time of year again when the Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) bloom along the trails and in the woods of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The lovely pink and white flowers of mountain laurel bloom in early May through June. "You think you're stopping for these great mountain views and these mountain vistas, if you just stop to take in the great view, but if you look down at your feet, too, sometimes you'll find some amazing little gems right at your feet. Depending on where you live, you might be treated to a gorgeous bloom full of purple, pink, and other colorful flowers in the parks and the neighborhood. The main drawback of visiting in autumn is the crowds. Some claim the name refers to the roan or reddish color of the mountain when rhododendrons bloom in June or the mountain ash berries appear in September. The tallest Purple Rhododendron in the nation grows in the Smoky Mountains at a height of 25 feet! However, Catawba leaves are not as long and hold a more rounded shape. Porters Creek Trail. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Vol. The North Carolina Rhododendron Festival is celebrated in the small downtown and creekside park (pic above) in Bakersville. Flame azaleas bloom at the low and mid-elevations in April and May. The cookie is set by addthis.com to determine the usage of Addthis.com service. By late summer and through the fall, goldenrod, wide-leaved sunflowers, tall ironweed, mountain gentian, monks hood, coneflowers, and numerous varieties of asters begin to bloom. Over 200 different species of rhododendrons can be found high up in the Hengduan Mountains. On Jun 22, 2021 June is a popular time of year to visit the Smokies! People have also reported some nice viewing on the Rich Mountain Loop and the Roaring Fork Motor Trail. Photos of wildflowers grouped by color will aid in identifying species found in the park. Rhododendron Creek Trail. There are two main types of rhododendron that grow in our Smoky Mountains. Craven Gap Trail to Bull Gap, part of the Mountains to Sea Trail, offers frequent sightings of violets, trillium, azaleas. The rhododendrons had an excellent bud set during the summer of 1996, and R. maximum was in peak bloom when we made our excursion to Gregory on July 10th. They were absolutely beautiful. Pricing. As you drive across the mountains on Newfound Gap Road you will notice that the brilliant swatches of white and pink seem to be almost endless. Like so many plants this spring, the dogwood blooms are about three weeks earlier than usual. The famous displays on Gregory Bald bloom in mid to late June and on Andrews Bald in late June. Another important thing that you need to figure out is the length of the blooming period. People. Rosebay rhododendron is in bloom at the lower elevations in June and at mid-elevations during July. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. All Rights Reserved. Mitchell, Mt. Ladies Slipper), Allegheny MyrtleBeard TongueBlack SnakerootBrook LettuceButterfly WeedCatawbaCommon ElderField DaisyFlame Azalea (uplands)GalaxGoats RueHydrangeaMagnoliaMountain LaurelMountain OxalisMountain StewartisNew Jersey TeaRhododendronSpiderwortYellow Ragwort, BergamotBlack-eyed SusanCoreopsisDutchmans Pipe VineFlowering RaspberryHercules ClubIndian PipeJewel-weedMountain StewartiaOx-eye DaisyPartridge BerryPassion FlowerPhlox (summer)Purple-fringed OrchidQueen Annes LaceRhododendron (white)SourwoodStar GrassTrumpet CreeperWild Lilies, Bee Balm( Oswego Tea)Betony (smooth)Cardinal LobeliaClematisEvening PrimroseGoldenrodHercules CluJewel WeedJoe Pye WeedMeadow BeautyMonkshoodMountain MintsSt. Of course, if youre a gardener, you can buy rhododendron bushes or trees to transplant in your own yard. You need to understand that most gardeners generally break up the blooming periods into different seasons, typically characterizing them as the early season, the midseason, and the late season.. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These plants have a considerably longer blooming period, as we have already discussed, and you should know that the plant expends a considerable amount of energy each day just to maintain the blooms. All of a sudden in late June and early July, the buds on these plants burst forth and there is color everywhere. Your email address will not be published. Enjoy this 6.9-mile loop trail near Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Your online resource for the Smoky Mountains. While wildflowers are visible roadside along Highway 441, and many of the other sideroads, the best place to see the numerous varieties of wildflowers and spring blooms are the on the hundreds of miles of hiking trails in the park. And if you are a wildflower enthusiast, please join my Smoky Mountains Wildflowers Community page on Facebook. If every person picked one wildflower, how many wildflowers would we have for the future generations? The One Subscription to Fuel All Your Adventures. What makes it so magical is the sheer number of these plants spread over vast rolling mountains. They typically bloom from mid-March through April, with large green leaves and 6 to 10 white petals that open in full sun and close at night. The summit of Gregory Bald is considered to have one of the finest displays of Flame Azaleas in the world. Want to see pictures? Below shows the pineapple-shaped bud of a Rhododendron. If youre out walking with your dog, just make sure they dont decide mountain laurel looks good to eat as it is toxic to many animals (people included!). Bead Lily, Speckled Wood Lily Blooms: May-June Clintonia umbellulata Common in rich, moist deciduous woods. Its also the parks driest time of year, with little precipitation and humidity decreasing. Plus, springtime has the perfect weather to go for a hike and see the flowers up close! Too early, and youll find no flowers. Beard-Tongue There are perks to visiting in the warmer months, but if you can avoid the crowds and heat of the summer months, wed suggest it.