Wildflower Calendar

The mountains have a variety of slopes and conditions, including pockets of specialized habitats. You can enjoy North Carolina wildflowers almost anytime of the year.

Some flowers bloom all year, but spring is when the blossoming is at its peak. Wildflower lovers flock to our state in numbers similar to those who visit the area for fall foliage.

Anemone, bishop's cap, bloodroot, chickweed, early meadow rue, hepatica, spring beauty, toothwort, wake-robin and violets appear in early April.

By mid-April, you'll find bleeding hearts, white trillium, Dutchman's breeches, flowering dogwood, wild geranium, fringed polygala, crested dwarf iris, May apple, Solomon's seal and trout lily, all of which appear on the park's Blooming Report.

By May, yellow star grass, columbine, showy orchids, fire pinks, yellow lady's slipper and woodland bluets have appeared. In June and July, flame azaleas and Catawba rhododendron bloom, and there are berries throughout the park. In August and September, the flowers include asters, goldenrods, sunflowers, Turk's cap lily, ironweed, cardinal flower, jewelweed and turtlehead.

WILD FLOWERS OF SOUTHWESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

Iris: April 10-May 15	Golden Groundsel: April 21-May 15
Dogwood: May 1-May 15	Snow Trillium: May 2-May 12
Pink Azalea: May 2-May 21	Field Hawkweed: May 1-June 7
Flame Azalea: May 5-June 15	Fraser Magnolia: May 5-May 15
Small’s Groundsel: May 7-June 10	Fire Pine: May 10-June 7
Bowman’s Root: May 21-June 15	Allegheny Blackberry: May 21-June 15
New Jersey Tea: May 21-June 15	Mountain Laurel: June 1-June 14
Catawba Rhododendron: June 1-June 20	Viper’s Bugloss: June 1-June 30
Beard-tongue: June 1-July 5	Sundrop: June 1-July 5
Columbine: June 15-July 5	Goat’s Beard: June 7-June 21
American Elder: June 10-July 5	Coreopsis: June 15-August 5
Fragrant Thimbleberry: June 21-July 30	White Rhododendron: June 25-July 14
Sourwood: June 25-July 15	Beebalm: July 1-August 15
Cohost Bugbane: July 10-July 30	Tall Coneflower: July 10-August 10
Tall Meadow-Rue: July 19-July 21	Oswego Tea: July 10-August 5
Boneset: August 1-August 21	Snapweed: August 1-August 21
Joe-Pye-Weed: August 1-August 28	Ironweed: August 1-August 28
Gay Leech: August 1-August 21	Pokeberry: August 1-August 30
Clematis: August 10-August 21	Cardinal Flower: August 10-August 28
Sneezeweed: August 21-September 25	White Wood Aster: August 21-September 25
Wrinkled Goldenrod: September 1-September 21	Field Goldenrod: September 1-September 25
Canada Goldenrod: September 5-September 30	Swamp Aster: September 1-September 21
Heath Aster: September 10-October 5	Wave Aster: September 5-September 30
Aromatic Cudweed: September 15-October 5