This past weekend I traveled to Louisville, Kentucky to visit a friend. It was my first time stopping in the city instead of driving through it on my way to some other destination. As I traveled south I spotted swaths of redbuds blooming throughout southern Indiana. When I arrived in Louisville, I was greeted by a beautiful display of flowering dogwood. The city was amidst the festivities of “Derby,” or the Kentucky Derby as an out-of-stater like myself would call it.

Cherokee Park

During the long weekend I spent in the city, my friend treated me to not one but two trips to Cherokee Park. It was wonderful! The park was designed in 1891 by Frederick Law Olmstead, the same landscape architect who designed Central Park in New York. Olmstead created “the large urban park, devoted primarily to the experience of scenery and designed so as to counteract the artificiality of the city and the stress of urban life.”

Cherokee Park in Louisville is 389 acres, containing large meadows, rolling hills, groves of trees, and woodland areas. The whole park rises upward through a valley surrounding Beargrass Creek. In early spring, the city utilizes the creek and park as overflow to help control flood waters. Even as we strolled, my friend pointed out some debris still in need of being cleared from the lower limbs of trees near the water’s edge.

We came across some people planting trees on one of the hillsides within the park. Having become more involved in tending my own city’s urban canopy, I immediately started a conversation with them. The young men were planting a stand of Tilia Americana, commonly called American Basswood, which they said was a favorite of Olmstead’s.

Woodland Wildflowers in Kentucky

The real treat was experienced during our second visit where we left the larger recreation path and strolled through some of the woodland. Here is a sampling of what we saw during our walk down the path. I made an attempt to identify these:

Virigina Bluebell (Mertensia virginica)

Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)

I believe this is a stand of Woodland Phlox (Phlox divaricata).

Celandine-Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum)

Dwarf Larkspur (Delphinium tricorne)

Along the edges of the woods was this pretty, flowering, understory tree. I immediately thought “viburnum” because of the blooms. However, the leaves were throwing me a bit.

I looked it up when I returned home and believe it to be a Blackhaw (Viburnum prunifolium). Blackhaws have glossy foliage, bloom in mid-spring, grows up to 15ft. tall, handle moist, well-drained soil (river bank), and can tolerate full sun to full shade (beneath the larger tree canopy).

The Other Half and I did a lot of hiking (which is what we call walking when we do it outside in rural areas) during our trip to Ireland. I soon began to notice the recurrence of certain wildflowers. On one of our formal garden stops, the Other Half proudly presented me with a little pocket guide, Irish Wild Flowers by Ruth Isabel Ross,  he’d found in the gift shop. Seven euro later and we were equipped with a key to puzzle out a lot of the flowering plants for the rest of our trip.

Cross-leaved Heath

Erica tetralix is a native, evergreen shrub flowering May through September. At first I thought this plant was bell heather, but the clusters of flowers were one-sided. Plus, we found this little one on the peat bogs of Connemara National Park. The plant prefers this wet, water-logged ground with acidic soil.

Bell Heather

Erica cinerea is an abundant, native evergreen that blooms from June through September. This shot was taken further up Diamond Hill in Connemara National Park. Bell heather is often found on hills, moorland and dry acid soils.

Common Heather (Ling)

Calluna vulgaris is a native, evergreen shrub that blooms from July through September. When we planned our trip to Ireland, I immediately imagined the countryside filled with fields of heather. I was not disappointed when we traveled to Co. Wicklow and the Wicklow Mountains. The heather and gorse made for a beautiful combination that covered the hillsides. The shrub prefers acid soil and the drier areas of mountains, moors and bogs throughout Ireland.

European Gorse

Ulex europaeu is a native, evergreen shrub that blooms  year around with peak bloom time in April. The first day we noticed this flowering shrub was a daytrip to the Wicklow Mountains south of Dublin. Swaths of yellow flowers were in the company of some fading heather. When I drew closer, the plant didn’t look quite as soft and lovely. The shrub has bluish-green spines covering the lengths of the stems. At this time of year, a lot of its flowers were going to seed. We also spotted gorse in the hedges of Co. Galway.

Tormentil

Potentilla erecta is a widespread, native perennial that blooms from May through September. We came across this pretty, yellow flower with heart-shaped petals when we were exploring Connemara National Park in Co. Galway. The plant prefers acidic or slightly acidic soils, often making its home on moors, heaths, and acidic grasslands.

Thrift

Armeria maritima is a native, evergreen perennial that flowers from May through September. I’ve tried to grow this little flower on the Lot before, but it didn’t live more than a few seasons. A common name for  it is “Sea Pink,” and yes, we found the plant along the edge of the ocean in Roundstone, Co. Galway. The Irish name Noinin an chladaigh, when translated, is “Daisy of the Sea Shore.” The thrift reminded me of a little sea creature clinging to the rocks at low tide.

Additional Resources

In addition to the little pocket guide, I used a few online resources to cross-reference and read up on the above plants. Here they are if you’re curious!

Irish Wild Flowers

Wild Flowers of Ireland