“Love is like wildflowers; it’s often found in the most unlikely places”, written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, is one of my favorite quotes in the past nineteen years of life. In my opinion, it is courage and forever optimism that allow wildflowers to create serendipity. The wildflowers in the Adirondacks, as one of the unique features of the Adirondacks, attract tons of tourists.
Unlike wildlife or bird watchers, wildflower watchers in the Adirondacks usually go home with greater satisfaction. To this point, you might be curious about why do I make such an interpretation. Wildlife watchers may hike for many days in hopes to catch a fleeting glance of a moose. Bird photographers may take multiple trips to a specific habitat to catch an admirable view of some precious species. However, wildflowers do not fly away. Different arrays of wildflowers sit on the forest floor, waiting for inspection, identification, and photography. As a result, “viewing / photographing wildflowers” was the fastest-growing category of all outdoor reaction activities in the Adirondacks.
Let me show you a few beautiful wildflowers of the Adirondacks. The picture below is Buckbean (also called Bogbean), one species native to the Adirondacks. In spring and early summer, it produces clusters of star-like white flowers. Thin silk wound on the petals so that the flower appears a fancier sense. When I saw the insect resting on the flower petal, I felt the strong emotional bonding between organisms living harmoniously in the environment. As for living conditions, Buckbean flourishes in “wet soil or shallow water on the edge of ponds, blogs, and marshy ground”, from which we could interpret that it relies on watery conditions to survive and prevail.
Another wildflower that I appreciate is Grass Pink. It often springs from peat or sphagnum moss, and the bearded lip easily recognizes its petal and long, narrow, grass-like leaves. Plus, it is famous for its sweet-smelling when it generally blooms in late June or early July. The petals of the flower have a delicate fragrance, said to be reminiscent of red raspberries or sweet violets. The lower lip petal is deeply fringed in the center with yellow bristles. Nevertheless, this plant is listed by the US Department of Agriculture as “exploitably vulnerable” in New York State, leading to my awareness that more conservation actions are needed to protect wildflowers like Grass Pink from getting harmed.
As for me, whenever I experience a low point in life, flowers usually bring me hopes as they bloom and create beautiful moments of life in whatever weather conditions. The Adirondack wildflowers, at the same time, give me surprise, and I look forward to meeting serendipity in my future hiking in the Adirondacks.
Work cited:
- (September 2008) Outdoor Recreation Activity Trends: What’s Growing, What’s Slowing? A Recreation Research Report in the IRIS Series1.
- Lawrence Newcomb. (1977) Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Little Brown and Company.
- William K. Chapman. (1997) Orchids of the Northeast, A Field Guide. Syracuse University Press.
Awesome topic Lujing! I hear a lot about wildlife-watchers and birdwatchers, but haven’t yet heard about wildflower watchers! It is very true that wildflowers are more predictable to come across in season than wildlife like moose and deer. I was wondering what you think the difference is in impacts on the environment when comparing wildlife-watching to wildflower watching. To what extent would you consider the disturbance levels of wildlife-observing and wildflower-observing?