By Kate Carter
Most people in Vermont can step out their front doors all summer long, look around the yard and see many of the common wildflowers that sprout anywhere the land has been disturbed. These are everyday wildflowers — clover, sorrel, Queen Anne’s lace, hawkweed, vetch, campion, madder and the ever-present, always cheerful dandelion.

But where can you see unusual wildflowers? Where can you see the delicate spring ephemerals that cover the forest floor before the leaf canopy shuts out the sun? How do you find the flashy orchids with their wings and tongues, or fragile alpine flowers that only grow in northern climates? And how do you know when to go?

In Vermont, there are hotspots all over the state that virtually gush wildflowers at certain times of the year. Many of them are in places where development will never occur, such as state parks and forests, as well as areas owned or maintained by The Nature Conservancy of Vermont. Still others are on private land where the public is welcome. Here are 10 special areas you can visit and the best times to go, so you will be guaranteed an eyeful of wildflowers blooming in their natural habitats.

Black Mountain, Dummerston
Spring Beauties and Mountain Laurel

This southeastern granite peak hosts a wide variety of wildflowers easily viewed from trails that lead to the horseshoe-shaped summit. The lovely spring ephemerals, the first of the woodland flowers to bloom, start in April with bloodroot, violets, hepatica, spring beauty, wild ginger and Dutchman’s breeches.

May brings baneberry, foamflower, painted trillium and jack-in-the-pulpit. But the real showstopper comes in June, when mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) fills the forest with fist-sized bunches of flowers. The shrub, which grows to 12 feet high, is common in Connecticut and points south, especially in the Appalachians, but Black Mountain is one of the few sites where it grows in Vermont.

More than 300 acres on Black Mountain are protected by the Nature Conservancy of Vermont. Two trails lead to the summit. The Conservancy built the trail on the western side (trailhead on Rice Farm Road). Another, easier trail begins on the eastern side on Black Mountain Road, where a small pullout fits about six cars. This trail crosses private land that the landowners have graciously made available to those wishing to visit Black Mountain’s summit via an easy climb.

Nature Conservancy of Vermont,
(802) 229-4425, www.nature.org.

Boswell Botany Trail, Manchester
A Bonanza of Blooms

The Boswell Botany Trail on the grounds of the Southern Vermont Arts Center has a long list of wildflowers, shrubs and ferns, some of them common, some unusual and a few that are very rare.

No matter the month, you’re sure to find something interesting in bloom. April and May come on strong with spring ephemerals, followed in June by starflower, wood betony, pink and yellow lady’s slippers and golden ragwort, a gem of a flower that far surpasses its name. July is when purple-flowering raspberry and other showy shrubs come into bloom, along with the tall and wavy Cimicifuga racemosa, otherwise known as fairy candles.

If you’re lucky, in August you’ll see grass-of-Parnassus, a charming white flower with striking dark veins. August is also when turtlehead, goldenrod, aster, boneset and joe-pye take over, bringing a final burst of color to the landscape.

The Southern Vermont Arts Center
West Road, Manchester
(802) 362-1405, www.svac.org.

Eshqua Bog, Hartland
Loads of Lady’s Slippers

Father’s Day is the time to visit Eshqua Bog, because that’s when showy lady’s slippers fill the fen with their bulbous pink and white blooms. A boardwalk allows easy viewing of the wetland plants while protecting their delicate habitat. If you go in mid-June, you’ll also see yellow lady’s slippers, cotton grass and blueberries. On the trail that goes around the fen you’ll see dainty starflowers and cheerful bunchberries. In July, Labrador tea comes out, along with pink sheep laurel and the candlestick-like white bog orchid.

Eshqua Bog is technically a fen, not a bog. The difference is the water source and the site’s acidity. Water in bogs comes from precipitation; they have spongy peat deposits, acidic waters and a floor covered by a thick carpet of sphagnum moss. The water in fens comes from sources other than precipitation. They are peat-forming wetlands and differ from bogs because they are less acidic, have higher nutrient levels and can support a more diverse plant community.

Nature Conservancy of Vermont
(802) 229-4425, www.nature.org

Mount Mansfield Summit, Underhill
Mountaintop Beauties

All summer long, alpine wildflowers and shrubs bloom on Mount Mansfield’s summit. These small plants manage to survive the summit’s harsh conditions and actually thrive in the punishing environment. Among them is diapensia, officially endangered and found in the U.S. only on mounts Mansfield, Marcy (New York), Katahdin (Maine), and in the Presidential Range (New Hampshire).

At the same time, waves upon waves of leatherleaf are in full bloom. At this altitude, leatherleaf looks like a bonsai version of the same shrub that blooms three weeks earlier on shorelines in the Northeast Kingdom. In mid-June the tiny alpine blueberries bloom, along with bog bilberry and mountain cranberry (lingonberry). In July, mountain sandwort grows in clusters protected by rocky outcroppings. Pale laurel, Labrador tea and mountain ash also put on a show in July.

The easiest way to get to the summit is to drive up the Toll Road and walk along the summit ridge. A shorter, steeper and much more difficult trail can be followed from the upper terminal of the gondola. Caution: Walk on marked trails, not fragile alpine plants.

Toll Road and Gondola Skyride information is at www.stowe.com

H. Lawrence Achilles Natural Area at Shelburne Pond,
Shelburne
May Blossoms on Parade

To hit the jackpot of wildflower viewing, go to this natural area in early May. Here’s a short list: red and white trillium, wild columbine, saxifrage, Canada violet, trout lily, wood anemone, baneberry, squirrel corn, Dutchman’s breeches, blue cohosh and wild strawberry. Anyone who’s been there will agree it’s a veritable wildflower-lover’s paradise. A trailhead to the left of a public boat launch leads to a one-mile trail that wanders through the calcium-rich forest. There are several viewpoints overlooking the pond, and several side trails that drop down to the water.

Shelburne Pond lies in an increasingly suburbanized area, but its shoreline remains unaltered, with 400 acres of swamps, marshes and rich woods that provide excellent habitat for several unusual plants and birds. The pond also serves as an important educational resource for several departments at the University of Vermont. The wildflower trail is owned and maintained by the university.

Nature Conservancy of Vermont
(802) 229-4425, www.nature.org

Kettle Pond, Marshfield
Road to Rhododendron

The 3.2-mile hiking trail around Kettle Pond in Groton State Forest is an excellent place to view woodland wildflowers. It is one of the few sites in Vermont where you’ll find Rhododendron maximum, also called great laurel or rosebay. The time to see this impressive rhododendron is the second week in July. Take the trail from the canoe-access parking lot on Route 232 and within yards you’ll come across its showy white and yellow blossoms. These shrubs grow to 12 feet high and are quite stunning when in full bloom.

Another good time to visit Kettle Pond is late May to early June, when the forest surrounding the pond is profusely decorated with pink lady’s slippers and bunchberry. The shore is lined with leatherleaf, a low shrub with tiny, white bell-shaped flowers that dangle from an arching branch. Hobblebush calls for attention with its large, flat-topped clusters of tiny white flowers surrounded by a ring of larger white blossoms. In August, those flowers turn to bright red berries that become nearly black when ripe.

There is no fee to park or use the trail; (802) 426-3042, www.vtstateparks.com. The Kettle Pond hiking loop is described in the Green Mountain Club’s The Day Hiker’s Guide to Vermont, www.green mountainclub.org.

Shaw Mountain Natural Area, Benson
White Trilliums, Rare Wildflowers

Go to Shaw Mountain Natural Area in early May for the largest white trilliums you will ever see. They love the calcareous soil conditions there, and it shows in their four-inch-wide snow-white blossoms. At the same time, early meadow rue is swaying in the breeze, violets are peeking out everywhere and round-leaf ragwort is starting to bud.

The Nature Conservancy of Vermont owns and manages the 500-acre Shaw Mountain Natural Area, which rises more than 500 feet above the surrounding land. You can walk a well-marked,
2.4-mile self-guided trail through the area. Fifteen rare species live on the preserve, including six kinds of wildflowers: big tick-trefoil, snowy aster, squaw root, sessile-leaved boneset, three-parted violet and four-leaved milkweed. Big tick-trefoil and sessile-leaved boneset are on Vermont’s endangered species list.

Nature Conservancy of Vermont,
(802) 229-4425, www.nature.org

Mount Philo State Park, Charlotte
A Mountain of Flowers

Mount Philo, Vermont’s oldest state park, was created in 1924. Rising from near sea level, the 968-foot peak is a landmark in the Champlain Valley. Any time you visit Mount Philo, from April through September, you will see wildflowers. They line both the road and hiking trail from bottom to top and are everywhere on the summit.

In April, before the park opens, you can take a leisurely walk up the road, or a more rugged hike up the trail and see all the typical early spring ephemerals. The first week in May is the time to enjoy dense stands of white trillium.

Early June brings New Jersey tea, toadflax, barren strawberry and huckleberry. The bright orange wood lily and flowering raspberry bloom in early July. In August, the road is lined with jewelweed, both yellow and orange, and the summit is ablaze with white wood aster, lavender heart-leaved aster, goldenrod and magenta fireweed.

The park is open daily, Memorial Day weekend through
October 15; a fee is required;
(802) 425-2390, www.vtstateparks.com

Chickering Bog, East Montpelier
Wild Orchids, Pitcher Plants and Lady’s Slippers

Unusual orchids are hard to find. If you want to see two, go to Chickering Bog during the first half of June, when dragon’s mouth and grass-pink are blooming. You’ll also see the odd-looking carnivorous pitcher plant, which gets its nutrients by trapping bugs in its funnel-shaped leaves. The bugs die and are eventually absorbed by the plant.

Along the trails that lead to Chickering Bog are bunchberry, twinflower and pink lady’s slipper. If you come in May, you’ll see buckbean in the bog and several cold-climate shrubs,
including bog rosemary, rhodora, leatherleaf and red chokeberry, all of which have unusual, small and very pretty flowers. With July comes another unusual orchid, the elusive rose pogonia. Blue flag iris and the tiny sundew bloom at the same time.

Nature Conservancy of Vermont,
(802) 229-4425, www.nature.org.

History Hike, Little River State Park, Waterbury

This hike is about four miles of leisurely walking on old jeep roads and trails in Little River State Park. Some sections go through dark woods, others are in sunny meadows. They include a variety of wildflowers from April through September. The hike is a journey through time, with stone walls, artifacts, foundations and cemeteries from the early 1800s.

The self-guided hike begins at the Dalley Loop Trail, a well-maintained jeep road (gated). Guide booklets are available at the trailhead. In April and May, the spring ephemerals are abundant. Spring beauties carpet the forest floor, along with purple trillium, goldthread, trout lily, hepatica, violets, wild ginger, Dutchman’s breeches, squirrel corn and wild oats. In June, the painted trillium and heal-all appear. July brings meadows of ox-eye daisy and black-eyed Susan.

August is for the tall flowers: Rough-stemmed goldenrod, flat-topped white aster, turtlehead, boneset and joe-pye weed have been growing all summer to reach their stellar heights. A meadow of goldenrod and joe-pye weed, their yellow and pink hues in perfect balance, is a work of art. In September you’ll see the deep purple closed gentian and a small white orchid called nodding ladies’ tresses.

The History Hike is described in The Day Hiker’s Guide to Vermont, published by the Green Mountain Club. Vermont’s Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation publishes a History Hike booklet available at the Little River State Park office or by calling (802) 241-3655 or emailing parks@state.vt.us; www.vtstateparks.com, (802) 244-7103.               

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