Wildflower Rendevous in the Cumberland Plateau

Dolores Reppert Morris

Description

This book will educate you about the wildflowers, their beauty, and the things that people don't take time to slow down and see in their everyday life. You will be delighted to learn about the simplicity of the beauty that finds you in the midst. You will be excited to find that rare wildflower just around the bend.

This book depicts a view of nature at your fingertips. All you need is a desire to go, to show up each season as God gifts us with the beauty of wildflowers. This was during trying times, where I relied on the beauty of nature around me to bring relaxation. The many roads east of I-75 were small and narrow therefore my sidekicks kept me out of ditches, away from that red fox, and even helped in finding new plants.

Sujets

• Wildflowers
• Plants
• Sciences et techniques
• Wildflower
• Flowers
• Nature

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 14 mars 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664281974
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 7 Mo

Extrait

Wildflower Rendevous in the Cumberland Plateau


Dolores Reppert Morris



Copyright © 2023 Dolores Reppert Morris.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.



WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
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Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Interior Image Credit: Dolores Reppert Morris

Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-8195-0 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-8196-7 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-8197-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022919708



WestBow Press rev. date: 10/18/2023




SEASONAL WILDFLOWERS OF THE CUMBERLAND FOOTHILLS







To quote Henry David Thoreau, “We can never have enough of nature. He wrote “For it is in the fields and in the woods that he found himself more completely in the possession of all his faculties more than he did in the crowded streets of town.” I have been reading this book of Walden’s Life in the Woods for about five years off and on. This book came to me from my mother’s bookshelf. My mother lived in the place where nature was at its best. The wildflowers covered the steep hills and the low side road. The side road, Buckeye, produces an amazing number of various species of wildlife and trees with a stream going wayside. My mother had been combing this area for beauty since she moved there in 1979. My mother was a product of generations before her that knew about foraging for herbs and plants for medicinal uses and food.
My love for being in the woods came naturally as I came from the life of loveliness by birth in 1947. I still live here. That speaks! Being out in nature is not all positive. Your drive to the side roads might bring one in contact with a company foraging for lumber which affects undergrowth. You may run into those who gather ginseng or “Sangers.” You may find them digging or planting the red berry for later seasons’ harvest. You also may run into trash dumps. The hairs on my arms stand up and I want to speak up because I care for the environment. We should all want to protect. The beauty of our countryside can remain so only if we protect the limestone edges covered with ferns and the large open fields where wildlife runs.
As a layperson, I will present the wildflowers as they grow per season. I will refer to references for descriptions and uses in the bibliography. The adventure I am on is during the time of Covid 19 which ravaged our world with quarantine, sickness, and death. My nature walks on a daily basis provided me with distance from that virus. It took me to a world of relaxation, views beyond description, and connected me to the lovely and excitement of finding the next wildflower just around the bend.
My daily ventures take me away and make me slow down and concentrate on the moment. There is a special place on the Rockcastle River that has an abundance of Virginia bluebells. If I’m in a state of anxiety I put my thoughts, worries, and dreams on that leaf afloat. As it floats down the river, it meets other leaves that form a mosaic and weaves itself to parts unknown. My sense of well- being returns as I consentrate on my surroundings.The bluebells themselves make you smile with colors of pink and blue in the flowerhead. I have been known to stay in the woods and side roads as long as two to four hours a day. The distance traveled would be up 20 to 40 miles. I always come back refreshed as I record the day’s findings. I challenge each of you to dive into nature whether it be hiking, biking, fishing, or riding the whitewater rapids on the Rockcastle and into the Cumberland River.
When we find an outlet that slows down the brain activity, we give up our human power to the power of God.













Let us move forward now. Looking forward gives us hope for a new day, new experiences, and bright skies. There is a quote from a movie that gives me pause. He quotes this line “From life until death we travel between the eternities—make it a joyful ride.” (Robert Duval in Broken Trails .)
Wildflowers that you will be seeing on the pages to come were found at the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains. Our county is rural with three small towns. Historically it has been a thriving colonial community with a hotel in Livingston in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Also, Mt. Vernon had a hotel named the Miller House where my great grandfather could spend the night for one dollar.
He lived at Orlando. If stranded during the winter, he could enjoy a hot meal and put his horse in the livery. My grandfather also lived in Orlando in the mist of the beauty. I am ready to give you a glimpse. They lived next to the Rockcastle River, a virgin river. The gardens, orchards, and wildlife were their mainstay. A day in the hammock or sitting on the riverbank was an enduring pleasure for my ancestorial family. The foothills of the Cumberland Mountains are in south central Kentucky as well as parts of Tennessee, West Virginia, and southwestern Virginia. Rockcastle County has small streams and creeks running from Berea both south and east. We are blessed to have the Rockcastle River for work and play. Rockcastle County was founded in 1810 and named for the large rocks, both high and low, that look like castles. The main section of the Rockcastle River is located in the Livingston area. Livingston is designated as a trail town. Rockcastle has a vivid story in its historical past.
Now we are going to Mt. Vernon which was settled by early Americans in 1790 around a feature called Spout Springs. Mt. Vernon’s water source during colonial times was the Spout Spring which still exists in a small park below the courthouse. The railroad came through Mt. Vernon after the Civil War. The excavation of the rails created tunnels with the switch at Mullins Station. These tunnels were guarded for security reasons during World War II. Spout Springs was also used for a source of water for a swimming pool in 1911. Later the Wilderness Road was constructed to Mt. Vernon in 1792. There is an old stagecoach stop at Red Hill. Daniel Boone traveled through here to Boonesboro. No doubt he camped and hunted game to keep his party from starvation. On one of Daniel’s travels, he lost a member of his party and five years later found the relative’s powder horn hanging in a tree by Rockcastle River. The historical sign that tells us about this is located below Lamero by the old cemetery. The Great Saltpetre Cave was used to produce saltpeter for ammunition during the Civil War. In recent times, the large room of the cave was used by John Lair of Renfro Valley fame for his country music show.













The weather has a lot to do with the quantity and quality of the wildflowers which is the topic of this reading. Some flowers like the Lady Slipper are more prolific when in woodlands facing east and south. The Lady Slipper grows in mixed hardwood forests of pines and hemlock. You will find them rooted in deep humus and acidic but well-drained soil. The Lady Slippers that I see year after year are the Pink Lady Slippers and on occasion a Yellow Lady Slipper Orchid. As of late, I have seen the pink orchid multiply and move within a mile of where I first saw them years ago. They are rare and it is against federal law to dig them on federal land. We live in the national forest, so look, admire, and smile, but don’t dig or pick. This year our weather in Kentucky during the winter of 2021 saw an enormously cold two weeks giving us an ice storm, snow, and a rainstorm. The wildflowers gave us a good standing even though we had frozen ground in February.
The wildflowers received more moisture to their roots and based on what I observed from the Pink Lady Slippers, the Wood Poppy (Celandine Poppy) and Trillium, I believe we had conditions that enhanced the growth of these flowers. As a layperson, I feel the above-named plants gave us a super bloom. A super bloom only occurs under the best growing conditions. These conditions involve water and nutrients to the roots, carbon dioxide, water and light for photosynthesis.
The people of Appalachia and especially where I live have foraged for edible plants and