Seven Sarracenia members and four guests grabbed the opportunity to go inside a restoration of longleaf pine sandhills in Gadsden County on the soft morning of October 6. Annie Schmidt, Chapter member and owner of the 300-acre property, graciously hosted and guided. Consistent with the aim of restoration, diverse native wildflowers of the tract were in their glory among the many thousands of young longleaf pine planted in the last 6 years. One plant, Chapman’s blazing star (Liatris chapmanii), made a particular spectacle in the combination of its great abundance and its rose-lavender beauty. Another blazing star much rarer, the endemic and endangered Gholson’s (L. gholsonii), also presented itself. In due course through the wildflower wonderland we came upon the incredibly aromatic mint coastalplain balm (Dicerandra linearifolia).
The property encloses the head of the Crooked Creek steephead system. We descended at one point through a narrow broadleaf forest into the ravine bottom, where we got shoeless in the cool flow of seepage water and waded to the base of a surprise waterfall.
To conclude a good day in the field, most of the party took advantage of a further hospitality from Annie—the opportunity to unwind by picnicking and socializing together at her big barn on the property.
Photos courtesy of David Roddenberry and Lynn Artz.
