The Shirley Miller Wildflower Trail

 

After several years of absence, I returned this week to The Shirley Miller Wildflower Trail in Northwest Georgia in preparation for a field trip I am co-leading next month. It’s been a while since I went; I think my last visit was in 2017 because I blogged about it twice – two visits, one month apart. 

We’ve had some warm days lately so I was curious if there would be a lot of flowers; this visit closely matches with my February 19, 2017 visit in terms of what was blooming.

Sharp-lobed liverwort (Hepatica acutiloba)

The site is publicly accessible although it requires a pass (same as for any WMA). I usually get a Fishing License; it costs $15 and is good for a year but you can also get a one day pass. You reach the parking area via a narrow dirt road that contains significant ruts so consider your vehicle choice carefully. You used to have to drive over a stream to reach it; they’ve built a small bridge over that now. Parking is in an open, graveled field that can be fun place to see early butterflies puddling for minerals.

The trail is part boardwalk and you can see most all of the plant types from there. For the adventurous and the able, there is a dirt path with roots and rocks that you can continue on until you reach the waterfall, but it is not required. From the parking area, you can also walk up the much wider trail that goes all the way to the top of the waterfall (it is called the Pocket Loop Trail). There are some different plants on the Pocket Loop Trail and it is easy walking; the top has a nice area for picnicking by the gurgling stream so bring lunch and something to sit on.

Here are some photos of what we saw on both trails; the Hepatica shown above is on both trails. On the Boardwalk trail, some of the tiniest flowers are up and some of the popular flowers (like Virginia bluebells) are just barely starting:

Claytonia caroliniana

Erigenia bulbosa 

Stellaria pubera

Mertensia virginica

On the Pocket Loop trail, the soil is a little drier:

Viola rostrata

Erigeron pulchellus

And even without flowers, you can find dried Hydrangea blooms, cool evergreen ferns, evergreen foliage of other plants, and mosses of all kinds.

Hydrangea arborescens will bloom in May

Walking fern

A fern duo at the top of the falls

Left to right: Heuchera, Sedum, Erigeron, Aquilegia

If you want to look ahead as to what you might see in March, check out my March 2017 blog post or my March 2012 blog post.

If you’re interested in other wildflower walks, check out this book about walks throughout Georgia. The Shirley Miller Wildflower Trail is their #1 recommendation.

February 2026 Moment in Nature

You can be surprised that I chose this for my #momentinnature. This is not a native plant. It was brought here as a result of a long path of botanical explorations that date back hundreds of years. Daffodils (Narcissus) have their origins in the Mediterranean (read more here). Bulbs like daffodils and tulips were part of a lucrative trade in the Netherlands in the 17th century.

European settlers brought them here and planted them in places where they persist even long after the humans have left, fooling some folks into thinking they are native. Here you can see the native American beech foliage in the woods behind this clump, giving all of it a naturalized appearance.

These particular ones haven't outlasted the humans yet. They are in my new yard (and they are in abundance!), planted by the original owners as many as 30 years ago. Deer don't seem interested in them.

So while they are not native, they bring a smile for many folks when they bloom in the winter (the earliest species often do bloom in winter here), their bright flowers appearing to defy the winter weather.

Enjoy the moment.

Goldenrod Gets Its Moment

 

Solidago petiolaris

Goldenrod needs to be in more gardens! Its late summer and fall blooms are very important to resident and migrating pollinators such as the Monarch butterfly. Yet, its message of positivity doesn’t always reach the gardeners. Instead, a fear of aggressive behavior (and the ridiculously inaccurate assumption that it contributes to allergies) keeps people from using it in designed landscapes.

A new trial garden report for goldenrod was released recently by Mt. Cuba Center as part of their ongoing efforts to evaluate native plants for gardens. This is their sixteenth report and two more are in-progress. These 3-year trials focus on the Mid-Atlantic region, but many of the species in their trials are native to Georgia as well. 

I have written about some good goldenrods for Georgia in 2011 and again about a particularly available species in 2023.

The report’s overall assessment on aggressive species is that “only a handful of the evaluated Solidago could be categorized as aggressive, and even these plants can be used to great effect in naturalistic gardens.” This was a full-sun trial but in the Mid-Atlantic that even includes our shade-tolerant species Solidago caesia. Several of the species of Euthamia were included. Of the 70 plants tested. Some of them were straight species, some of them undescribed (listed at the genus name only), and some were cultivars.

For beginners, the report includes a lot of useful information about plant structure (see photo above), taxonomy, habit, and care. Each of the top 13 performers has a detailed description (see example below). There is also a downloadable spreadsheet that I found very useful. Sun exposure, moisture, height, bloom time, insect activity, and even deer browse impacts are shown for each species in the spreadsheet.

I encourage you to read the report (and some of the other reports!) and get inspired, ready to incorporate some goldenrod into your garden this spring. Goldenrod (Solidago) is a keystone perennial for Georgia gardeners and your impact on supporting the local ecosystem increases with your use of it.