Two blooms
Monday, 12 June 2006
Flame or wild azalea? I’m leaning to flame….
I’m guessing some kind of Penstemon?
I pass along a couple of mysteries from Saturday’s high-altitude (or what passes for high altitude in Georgia) walk, up in the Raven Cliffs Wilderness on the divide between the Little Tennessee River and the Chattahoochee River drainages.
I was astounded to find azaleas still abloom, and even one plant with the blooms not yet opened! These delicate tree versions make the yard ones seem, I guess, just what they are: showy. I love the exaggerated length of the flower parts, very elegant!
I’m stumped on the pink tubular flowers, but after digging in my wildflower book and dipping into the web just a tad, I’m guessing its one of an apparently nearly limitless list of Penstemons. Anyone else?
I know this sample’s past its prime, but the busy bee caught my eye. And she was busy! She would walk all the way into each flower, so not even her nether parts stuck out!