Tennessee Wildflowers

If you have ever been in Texas during April then you have seen the beautiful blue waves of bluebonnets and the colorful Indian Paintbrush and Indian Blankets. Texas is a great state for wildflowers, but Texas has nothing on Tennessee for wildflower variety.

First of all, although bluebonnets grow wild, most of those roadside fields of bluebonnets that you see on postcards or in photos are not natural, they are planted. Lady Bird Johnson gets credit for starting the program to beautify Texas roadsides with wildflowers…and a great job she did too. In Tennessee we don’t have the miles and miles of planted roadside flowers, but we do have hundreds of wild natural varieties, especially in the hills and mountains of East Tennessee where we live.

Now, I never knew much about wildflowers, and still don’t, but I am learning. Some of my hiking friends like Karla, Helen, and Kay don’t even need a book to spot and identify hundreds of different flowers. But for most of us amateurs a book is pretty much a necessity. One of the best books is Wildflowers of Tennessee, The Ohio Valley and the Southern Appalachians, by Dennis Horn and Tavia Cathcart. I have a book that I like called Great Smoky Mountains Wildflowers, which I purchased in the National Park.

A Large-flowered Trillium growing wild in Tennessee Photo by Don Hazel

Different types of wildflowers bloom throughout the year, but now, in May is the best time, and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of the best places to see them. Plus you might catch a ranger program to get you started.

But you don’t have to leave our immediate area to see lots of native wild flowers and to learn about them from an expert. My friend, Karla Miller will be teaching a Tennessee wildflower class in the Lifetime Learning program in the fall right here in Fairfield Glade. You couldn’t have a better instructor when it comes to wildflowers. But don’t wait until fall to get started. Go out looking now and the class will be that much more valuable for you.

As you read this, the Mountain Laurel is probably in full bloom near you…I know that it is in my yard. But if you are just a little more observant you can see hundreds of native wildflowers in our area. Just to give you an idea, here is a short list of just a few of the wildflowers that I have seen hiking in the last few weeks and some of their interesting names.

Dwarf Crested Iris

Bluet

Trout Lily

Spring Beauty

Wild Violets

Wild Geranium

Creeping Phlox

Trillium

Lady Slippers

Fire Pink

Bishop’s Cap

Pussy’s Toes

Jack-in-the-pulpit

Columbine

Shooting Star

And the list goes on and on.

Wildflowers are just another part of nature that makes living in an area like ours in East Tennessee so interesting and enjoyable. Get out and see for yourself.