Scenic Drives

Springtime in Hendersonville is known for its lovely emerging leaves, early spring blooms, and most notably, it’s hundreds of acres of apple orchards, which offer delicate, pink blooms, abuzz with pollinators all season long.

In the summer, the trees are at their most green, the wildflowers along roadways are at their peak, and the rolling farmland throughout the county is lush. Summer is always a great time to explore in the Blue Ridge Mountains! One cool thing to know is that summertime is the time of year when you really get to see why they are called the “Blue Ridge” Mountains — they actually do appear to have a blue haze that can be explained by science: during the hotter months of the summer, all trees tend to get a little stressed from the heat, so they release a chemical called isoprene, which has a bluish color to it. Deciduous trees, or ones that drop their leaves each year, have a larger concentration of isoprene — and, you guessed it, this part of the Southern Appalachians have a lot of deciduous trees!

October is when the Blue Ridge Mountains really come alive! Just like the trees release isoprene in the summer, giving off a blue haze, in the cooler temperatures of the fall, a different kind of chemical reaction happens: the trees stop producing chlorophyll, and start showing off their “true colors” — the reds, oranges, bronzes and yellows! The more varieties of trees, the more complex and appealing the foliage appears to be.

One other thing to note about fall in Hendersonville is that this is the harvest season, and in Hendersonville, our agricultural roots run deep! We have hundreds of acres of apple orchards, and grow a wide variety of other fruits and vegetables.

Winter has fewer scenic drive options, but one thing that is great about exploring in winter is that you really get to see farther, since the leaves are not on trees. There are also a lot of evergreen trees and shrubs, like rhododendron, so you still can see some green throughout the year. We don’t get much snow in Hendersonville most years, usually one good snowfall, so you can typically get out and explore all year long, just be sure to wear layers and pack your car (or hiking pack) accordingly. The area’s wineries and breweries are a good option for this time of year, and while most orchards aren’t open in the winter, you can still drive through Apple Country and see all of the dormant trees, building anticipation for your next visit, in the spring to see the delicate pink blooms or in the fall to taste the bounty of harvest season.