While on photo adventure, we found ourselves on the leading edge of the first wave of spring ephemerals. I worried, as the guide, walking into a rich cove of potential botanical treasures, that we might not see much of anything. My timing was based on similar trips...
From my journal (March 2025): Where are the Maidenhair Ferns? I'm anxious to see and photograph the new, juvenile shoots, subjects behind my lens that have become a large part of my spring ephemeral experience. Last season's ferns lay limp across the steep slopes...
The Oconee Bell is more than a wildflower for me. It's a symbol of sorts. When I was eighteen I made a choice to move to South Carolina. Clemson University was one of the few that accepted and welcomed me. It was there that this diminutive, rare wildflower was...
There's a wave of energy that passes through the forest in early spring. It awakens a class of wildflowers known as spring ephemerals. These wildflowers employ a unique strategy of early, small and quick. They are the first adopters of sunlight energy; the fast...
Jocassee Gorges - Spring 2023The Southern Appalachian Mountains are defined by their biodiversity. To know this place--to understand the physical landscape--is to know the plants. This is what I've come to believe. Chasing the early spring bloom as a photographer is...
Trip Journal: April 27 - May 4, 2022 The Blue Ridge Escarpment is a place of transition where the high mountains of Western North Carolina drop dramatically into the Piedmont of South Carolina and Georgia below. Steep elevational drops, high rates of precipitation,...
Trip Journal: April 20-26, 2022The Blue Ridge Escarpment is a place of transition where the high mountains of Western North Carolina drop dramatically into the Piedmont of South Carolina and Georgia below. Steep elevational drops, high rates of precipitation, and...
Seeking "Perhaps The Most Interesting Plant..." Oconee Bells are rare wildflowers growing within the Jocassee Gorges region of Upstate South Carolina. Early American botanist Asa Gray spent a lifetime searching for Oconee Bells in the wild, largely unsuccessful. I...