Monday, April 14, 2025

Arabia Mountain- Bright and Beautiful

 


Our local wildflowers in this area have been beautifully blooming during this month of April.  We like to go on hikes at Panola Mountain State Park and also, Arabia Mountain.  And when I am walking, I am constantly on the lookout for blooms!

Look at the photo below, can you see my outline in the pond of water? I am taking a photo on my phone. Clever Richard! (He said he had me clearer than this, but I MOVED! Guess I was ready to go up Arabia Mountain!)












Here I am, marching up the 

mountain!






Hooray! I made it!  It was wonderfully windy and cool and from this point, you can see for miles.  (See the bright red diamorpha? Some have started blooming with the pretty white flowers on top, you will see.)


Arabia Mountain was quarried heavily at one time. How amazing it is to see nature making a comeback! And after the quarry was shut down, this area was used as dumping ground! Thankful for those who were behind this area becoming a park.

After a good rain, there will always be the vernal pools on top of Arabia. How lovely it is to see this water at the very top!



                                 Spiderwort (Tradescantia). 



             The tiny white flowers are called "sandwort". I called them "joyflowers" before I knew what they were called. JOY, it is to see them blooming.



Can you see the tiny fringe tree above? (It has the frilly white blooms.)  This was on top of Arabia Mountain and it was very windy! Richard did very well to get this shot! (I will show you more photos of this tree from Panola Mountain in my next post.)







I love the lichens and mosses too!


We are coming back down the mountain now and just at the base of the mountain, we smelled them before we saw them....




Campsis radicans, the Trumpet vine!  I wish you could smell this flower. Some say it smells like cinnamon, some say it is like coffee. It is SUCH a beautiful fragrance!  (I sent a text to a friend and told them I saw this, Campsis radicans and the phone changed it to "Campsite radical". Tee hee. I am glad I noticed!)



Just had to show you a photo of our columbine! We had some in a pot and it dropped seeds and we were rewarded with these lovely blooms.  Aren't they gorgeous! 

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Today is April 14th and yesterday was the Final in a little golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia, you may have heard about.  Rory McElroy won the Masters! (I'm not crying, you're crying!) 

Hope you are all well and enjoying April wherever you are! April is my birthday MONTH, so I celebrate it for weeks! Maybe I am biased because it is the month where I came into the world, but I think it is such a beautiful time of year.   




Wish you all could smell the blossoms on our lemon tree too! We have had some very cool nights, so Richard lugs this in and out of the garage almost every night!  Hope it will reward us with lemons!




Next post: Panola Mountain!