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| Princess Tree |
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| Yellow Flag Iris |
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| Fire Pink |
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| Black Locust |
Lots of new stuff has started blooming this week. I finally got time to get a few pictures today. We get lots of folks asking about the pretty purple flowers on the trees by the entrance road. Those are Princess Tree or Pawlonia. They are a fast-growing exotic from Asia. At Bays Mountain Park, they seem to do well only in disturbed areas near the entrance road.
Another exotic in bloom right is the Yellow Flag Iris. These grow with their roots in the water and their leaves in the sun. You can find them blooming in patches all around the lake.
Fire Pink is a native wildflower that I have just seen this week, but I have had reports of it blooming for the past 2-3 weeks. This specimen and several others are on the rock cliffs near the upper end of the entrance road. They like to grow in very dry soils, so they are more common on slopes and ridge tops.
Black Locust is a fairly common tree in this area, but less so in the park. They prefer open sunny areas, so they can be found along the entrance road and around the lake in the park. The flowers have a wonderful perfume that is very attractive to honeybees.
What are the white flowers over by the raptor cages? (in front of the Kestrel) They look like an Azalea of some sort.
ReplyDeleteThose are azaleas, but I don't know the variety. They were planted there a few years ago, and they probably came from Lowe's or Evergreen Garden Center.
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