Early Autumn is that time before the main colors even start, when only a few things have turned, and are often overlooked for the more spectacular displays of later in October. I am sure that there are some spectacular colors further north around Boone and Blowing Rock, especially along the Parkway, at higher elevations, but things have just started here in Asheville at about 2000 feet.
One of my favorites is the Virginia Creeper, a vine often confused with Poison Ivy or Poison Oak. This one is from my mom's back yard in Asheville. I don't, unfortunately, have a back yard to speak of, as the Universe (God, The Goddess, The Cosmos, whatever you call It) has not seen fit to grace me with land, though I ask for it often. After seeing colors out my kitchen window, shown here, of a couple of Black Gun trees showing bright red, below,
I decided to go out in my tiny back yard and see what might seen from it. I discovered a lovely show of Virginia Creeper and Poison Ivy on a neighbor's White Pine, and got a couple of shots of that.
Note that the Virginia Creeper is red, while the Poison Ivy is mostly yellow or orange, with red highlights. Also, Virginia Creeper has five leaflets, and Poison Ivy has three. Both these vines are important food sources for birds, as the Virginia Creeper has tiny grape-like fruit, seen below,
and the Poison Ivy (also called Poison Oak) has white berries that are tasty to birds. Many people are highly sensitive to Poison Ivy; this is not really an allergy, as people seem to think, but a response to the toxic oil, which causes contact dermatitis. Some people are highly sensitive to it, and others, like myself, have no sensitivity whatever. Some claim that Native American blood is a factor, but I cannot say for sure.
This little bit of color seen from my back yard pushed me to get out and see what was going on near my house, so I got in the old Ford (mistake!) and started out, stalling out with a dead battery in mid trip.
I went poking around on the banks of the Swannanoa River at Recreation Park, and I did get some nice flower photos of some favorites, among them the Purple Aster, which I am extraordinarily fond of for some reason.
I also got a few shots of other late bloomers like the Knotweed,
which is a member of the Buckwheat family, and speaking of Buckwheat, I also saw a Climbing Buckwheat intertwined with this Knotweed (also called Smartweed) nearby.
Both these plants have a seed inside the coating that is very like Buckwheat seeds (called groats), that are very similar in taste to Buckwheat, and can be ground into flour.
While poking around on the river bank I found the Seed Box, sometimes called Water Willow (which is a name for another plant found here that blooms in mid summer), and got a not so good photo of it.
I also saw my old friend the Woolgrass. Once upon a time when I was a Botanist, I concentrated my studies on the Sedge family (Cyperaceae), and this is not a grass, but a Bulrush, a relative of the Papyrus Bulrush, which the Jewish leader Moses made famous when his mother hid him in a basket amongst them for the Egyptian princess to find.
Here is a shot of the Woolgrass in front of the outflow of the old Lake Craig dam.
And another favorite, the seed of the "Hearts-a-Bustin' shrub, found weekend before last in Hendersonville on a birding field trip.
So, if you are in the Southern Blue Ridge around Asheville this weekend, absolutely go on the Parkway and see the colors, but don't forget to look around and see the beauty of the late blooming fall flowers and the early turning colors.
