2024 Spring Bloom Report

It can be hard to choose a favorite time of year to be in the Blue Ridge Mountains, every season brings its own special qualities: Summer offers the warmest weather and lots of opportunities to enjoy the cool mountain water; Fall bursts into life with the apple harvest season and fall foliage color show; Winter bring the warmth of the holiday season followed temperatures that are often mild enough to continue to enjoy the great outdoors; and Spring — well!  Spring may just have the rest beat!

The Southern Appalachian region is known to be one of the most diverse regions in the entire world, in terms of flora and fauna, and every spring, an untold number of different plants burst into life, showcasing their stunning blooms — sometimes small and delicate, and other times called “flame” or “fire” for a good reason.

Follow along with us as we track mother nature’s finest display of blooms all spring and into the summer. Here’s what to expect from this year, but keep in mind that the temperature always dictates the bloom schedule, so some of these may vary from one year to the next:

• March –  The show typically begins in mid-March, usually the earliest signs are the non-native species, like daffodils, forsythia and Bradford pear trees. As the month comes to a close, more blooms open up, both in locals’ front yards and in our many state and national forests, like violets and trout lilies.
• April – The tulips and dogwoods typically unfurl in April, followed by the delicate pink blooms across the area’s hundreds of acres of apple trees. Later in the month, scour the forest floor for native blooms including (but not limited to) pink lady slippers, many varieties of trillium, and sweetshrub.
• May – This is a great time to be on the lookout for Jack-In-The-Pulpits, a native, carnivorous plant, as well as aptly-named, vibrant flowers such as flame azaleas and fire pinks. Towards the end of the month, be on the lookout for delicate mountain laurels as well as some varieties of rhododendron. This is also a great time of year to spot lantern-like Eastern Columbines.
• June – This is typically prime time to see the rhododendrons blooming, both along the Blue Ridge Parkway and while hiking through rhododendron thickets and tunnels in many of the area’s state and national forests. Tall, yellow mullein plants, with their soft leaves, thrive in sunny spots.
• July – Drive along any road and around you, the ditches are likely to be filled with vibrant, orange lilies. Along trailsides, be on the lookout for jewelweed — a wonderful, native plant that always grows near and is the cure for getting poison ivy oils off your skin. Coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, milk weed and Joe Pye weed are also found in abundance.  

See below for our weekly updates on what has popped up this week!

(Please note: the photo here and at the top of this page are from previous years.)

This will be our final spring bloom report of the year. Summer is almost here, and  there truly is so much still in bloom, it would make you a little dizzy to see photos of everything (or maybe that’s the pollen)! So to wrap up our 2024 Spring Bloom Report, we offer a simple video of a humble golden ragwort, swaying in the wind atop Bearwallow Mountain.

We hope to see you in Hendersonville this summer, and that you will join us again next spring as we document the stunning blooms our region is known for.

Downtown Hendersonville’s Main Street turned into a stunning garden festival at Garden Jubilee this past weekend, but even after the plants were sold and the vendors went home, the lovely planters that line the serpentine street are alive with blooms and interesting plants, like Coneflowers, Smoke Bush and even the Southern Magnolia Trees are blooming!

Just down the road from Main Street, Bullington Gardens feels much further from town than it actually is. Its 12 acres are famous for the Fairy Trail and dahlia garden, but lesser known are its wooded hiking trails — and they are the perfect place to spot native wildflowers! This week, we found so many blooms: both pink and white Mountain Laurel, tons of Azaleas in all shades, Star Chickweed, Woodland Pinkroot, Flowering Spurge, Fairy Wands, Bowman’s Root, Partridgeberry, and even ghostly-looking Indian Pipes! In the planted gardens, we found Bluestars, Geranium, Day Lilies, Lupine, Flase Goat’s Beard, Sundrops and so much more.

This week, we exploered the town of Laurel Park, situated immediately west of Hendersonville’s downtown. At the well-known Jump Off Rock, we discovered more than amazing views from this roadside scenic overlook! Jump Off Rock also has a few wooded hiking trails where we spotted Fire Pinks, Fleabane, Virginia Spiderwort and more.

Then, coming down the mountain, we veered off to stop by Rhododendron Lake. Once a vast lake and the spot for locals to teach their kids how to swim and couples went dancing at an open-air pavilion, these days, since the dam burst, the small lake it situared in a neighbordoor, and offers a quiet spot to walk, picnic and even catch-and-release fish. Here, we spotted Mountain Laurel, Chinese Privet, Daylilies, Ninebark, early blooms on Hydrangias, Purple Anise, Winterberries and more.

At Marked Tree Vineyard in Flat Rock this week, we found lilies, Kousa Dogwoods and honeysuckles in bloom.

In gardens around driving around town, you are sure to see peonies and Bearded Irises in all shades, the Rhododendrons are showing off their luscious blooms, and small fruits, like blackberries and strawberries, have burst open, waiting to be pollinated.

Driving around town, gardens a bursting with Kousa Dogwoods and Bearded Irises in all shades, and in shadier spots, Rhododendrons in every color can be spotted.

However, stepping out into the woods can be a special treat! This week, at Holmes State Forest, we spotted plenty of Trillium in various shades,  Foamflower, Multiflora Roses, False Solomon’s Seal, White Clintonia, Wild Geraniums, Fringetree, and Flame Azaleas in bloom, as well as quite a few Mayapples that were about to bloom.

On a scenic and somewhat strenuous hike up the Strawberry Gap Trail, one of the area’s newest hiking trails, located in the Hickory Nut Gorge area of Gerton, NC, straddling the county line, we discovered Wild Geraniums, early Rhododendrons, Sweet Shrub, Trillium and Golden Ragwort all blooming.

In the heart of Hendersonville’s Apple Country, McConnell Farms, which sells a variety of plants for purchase, had some of the most beautiful Azaleas blooming on their grounds and in their greenhouses.

At the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site in Flat Rock, the short walk from the hiker’s parking lot to the goat barn provided us with a few small but beautiful wildflowers, including Bluebells, Yellow Wild Violets, Pink Azaleas and Mountain Bellwort.

Up at Jump Off Rock, the higher elevation sees a later spring than in the valley, like where downtown is located. At Jump Off, the leaves are only just emerging, and we found a marvelous field of Little Sweet Betsy Trillium and Great White Trillium. 

In downtown Hendersonville, the earlier blooms have all subsided, and things like Bearded Irises and Alliums are beginning to bloom, and while driving throughout the county, by simply looking out your car window, you are sure to find lots of Sweet Shrub, Dogwood Trees and tons of varieties of Azaleas, both native and non-native, in full bloom.

Along the Oklawaha Greenway, we found blooming Dogwood Trees, beautiful burgundy Pawpaws, Golden Ragwort, and fields of beautiful Buttercups. This is also a great place for birdwatching, and tadpole finding.

For a flower fanantic, Bullington Gardens just can’t be missed! This week, there were blooms at every level of the forest. Some of the more notable finds included 5 different types of trillium, Eastern Columbines, sweet shrub, dwarf bearded irises, little brown jug flowers, mountain bellwort, and many different varieties of azalea, including some early flame azaleas and rhododendrons.

Apple Trees across Henderson County burst into bloom last week and continued to bloom this week. Around the county, we also saw blooming Dogwood Trees, Kwanzan Flowering Cherry Trees, and Mountain Witch Alder, among many other blooms.

This week, we had some rain and continued to see more blooms. Front yards of homes and businesses, and area parks continued to show their blooming daffodils, violets, grape hyacinth, ornamental cherry trees, and tulips. A short drive down the mountain, and the Lake Lure Flowering Bridge, at its slightly lower elevation than most of Hendersonville, was already quite a sight to see! We spotted tons of daffodils, tulips, Lenten roses, fringe flowers, bugleweed, speedwell and much more.

Closer to town, Bullington Gardens offers a mix of curated gardens and woodland paths, so not surprisingly, we discovered a great mix of native and non-native blooms here, including rare Oconee Bells, yellow trout lilies, Lenten roses, daffodils, tulips, magnolias, Snake’s Head Fritillary, and even some early azaleas! This is a can’t-miss spot if you want to see spring blooms.

The week of St. Paddy’s Day and the first week of spring were a great week to be in Hendersonville! Front yards of homes and businesses, and area parks began to show their first signs in the last week or so. Some of the non-native blooms dotting the landscape have included daffodils, violets, grape hyacinth, Bradford pear trees, ornamental cherry trees, and even downtown Hendersonville’s tulips are mostly in bloom already! Heading into the woods, at Holmes State Educational Forest, yellow trout lilies covered the understory, bloodroot flowers were beginning to open, and smaller blooms such as Carolina springbeauty, violas and star chickweed dotted the forest floor.