When you are driving, do you ever notice the plants whizzing by?
One of my favorite things is driving around neighborhoods looking for cool plants. When I visit my friend Mike in Athens, we often do just that: driving around the historic neighborhoods of Boulevard and Five Points. Older neighborhoods typically have the most interesting plants!
I've witnessed horticulturalists with amazing plant-spotting abilities. My friend Zac can spot trilliums going 70 mph down the interstate! While my skills are nowhere near that, I am often distracted by plants while driving.
At a distance, many plants can be identified simply by their shape. For example, Ginkgos are usually pyramidal, though this can vary. Plum-leaf azaleas or Rhododendron prunifolium have a classic pagoda-like shape—with horizontal planes of branches—and Edgeworthias or paperbush have branching in 3s. As you accumulate more and more images of plants in your head, you'll start to notice patterns that help with identification.
Then there's color. Most species/ cultivars have a distinct color profile—a unique fingerprint that helps with ID. Take, for instance, the Lady Banks rose. The most common form of this vine is usually a hazy pale yellow. From a distance, you can easily differentiate it from the more vibrant yellow of Carolina Jessamine, which is also a vine.
Another plant with a unique color is the orange tea olive or Osmanthus fragrans var. aurantiacus. Though this isn't a common shrub, once you've experienced its light pumpkin orange flowers, you'll never forget it. Its cousin, the creamy-white "regular" tea olive, is quickly becoming overplanted here in the south.
In late April and May, I try to remember to look for splashes of red in the mature forests surrounding creeks. I'm hoping to spot the elusive Indian pink or Spigelia marilandica. Though the flowers are usually sparse, their color glows in the deep shade of the forest floor.
While I don't suggest engaging in plant ID while driving, it's something we plant nerds instinctively do. I found so many unexpected treasures this way, yet I'll always prefer a neighborhood walk to the high speeds of the highway... It's amazing how much more we notice when we slow down.
Comments