2010 Alpine Garden Tour

We start with a view of the alpine garden, taken from the Huntington Ravine trail as that trail descends to the Alpine Garden Trail. This is an authentic rock garden, developed and maintained by Mother Nature herself. The flowers are small and overwhelmed by the rocks and by the grasses, sedges and small trees. There are no trees in the alpine zone that are taller than the height of a person. Rocks abound. The trails are not flat, dirt trails. They are full of rocks so that “walking” a trail can be more like jumping from rock to rock.

Mts Clay - Jefferson - Adams The next two pictures “set the scene” for a walk on the Alpine Garden Trail. The first one is taken from the Mt. Washington Auto Road, a road that starts at the base of the mountain and goes to the peak of the mountain. At about milepost 6.5 (miles up the road) the area around the road widens and there is a place to park the car. This picture is taken from that parking area looking north toward other mountains in the Presidential Range.

Bigelow sedge Carex Bigelowii The theme of this article is “LOOK DOWN, not up”. Returning to the auto road, we need to look down at a small patch of Bigelow Sedge nestled right next to the auto road. This sedge, the highland rush and some other grass-like growth form much of the “grass” that grows throughout the alpine zone. Bigelow sedge is the main growth in many of the meadows found on Mt. Washington and other mountains in the Presidential Range. It seems to grow almost anywhere in the alpine zone. [AMC Guide] This small clump of sedge is located right next to the Auto Road. On the other side of the Auto Road is the view of Mt Adams and some of the other Presidentials, as seen above (picture #2), taken by simply stepping across the Auto Road.

Bigelow sedge Carex Bigelowii New shoots of the Bigelow’s sedge grow from an underground root-like structure; produce leaves for a few years, flower and die. The sedge grows cylindrical spikes of separate male and female flowers. Each spike has purple scales. The males port a “bush” of showy yellow anthers. Later in the season fruit will develop on the female spike. [AMC guide]

Huntington Ravine Trail near the Alpine Garden Trail The Huntington Ravine trail works its way down toward the Alpine Garden trail. The day was fairly warm and very humid. The fog was coming up both Huntington Ravine and Tuckerman Ravine, and then dissipating as it came into contact with the fairly strong wind coming over the mountain as can be seen in this picture of the Alpine Garden area taken from high up on the Huntington Ravine trail. Those will good eyesight can see a line of cairns near the fog line. These cairns are the markers for the Alpine Garden Trail.

Junction of the Huntington Ravine Trail & Alpine Garden Trail. The two trails meet just above the top of Huntington Ravine. Here the Appalachian Mountain Club has build several cairn trail markers. They were covered by the fog, which made for a very eerie sight.

Junction of the Huntington Ravine Trail & Alpine Garden Trail. This picture was taken from exactly the same place as the previous picture, only it faces in exactly the opposite direction. Here we can see clearly the cairns of the Alpine Garden trail marching across the landscape at the bottom of the picture.

Alpine Bluet Hedyotis Caerulea Alpine Bluet Meadow: These tiny flowers with 4 petals and a bright yellow center were in bloom and covering vast amounts of the Garden area. They are fertilized by flies, not bees, as can be seen in one of the pictures below. All the flowers in the Alpine Garden were white, not blue. The AMC Guide notes that these bluets are found only in the White Mountains and on two islands near Newfoundland. The USDA plant database does not list this plant in its database. The bluet’s were in flower and making a wonderful carpet of color over certain portions of the alpine garden.

Alpine Bluet Hedyotis Caerulea These tiny flowers with 4 petals and a bright yellow center were in bloom and covering vast amounts of the Garden area. They are fertilized by flies, not bees, as can be seen in one of the pictures below. All the flowers in the Alpine Garden were white, not blue. The AMC Guide notes that these bluets are found only in the White Mountains and on two islands near Newfoundland. The USDA plant database does not list this plant in its database. The bluet’s were in flower and making a wonderful carpet of color over certain portions of the alpine garden.

Alpine Bluet Hedyotis Caerulea A few bluets were sheltering next to a rock and near the trail. This gave a good opportunity to get in close. These tiny flowers with 4 petals and a bright yellow center were in bloom and covering vast amounts of the Garden area. They are fertilized by flies, not bees, as can be seen in one of the pictures below. All the flowers in the Alpine Garden were white, not blue. The AMC Guide notes that these bluets are found only in the White Mountains and on two islands near Newfoundland. The USDA plant database does not list this plant in its database. The bluet’s were in flower and making a wonderful carpet of color over certain portions of the alpine garden.

Alpine Goldenrod Solidago Cutleri Goldenrod comes out in July, per the AMC guide. None were in flower at the end of June, but they were certainly getting ready, as can be seen in this picture.

Bunchberry Cornus Canadensis Bunchberry is a slow growing perennial herbaceous sub-shrub growing 10–20 cm tall, forming a carpet-like mat. It is a member of the dogwood family. The above ground shoots – which are pictured here - rise from slender creeping rhizomes that are placed 2.5–7.5 cm deep in the soil. The shoots produce above ground stems are slender and without branches. In the fall, the leaves have red tinted veins and turn completely red. Plants are for the most part self-sterile and dependent on pollinators for reproduction. The fruits look like berries but are drupes (a fruit with a outer fleshy part surrounding a pit, example: cherry). These are green, round in shape and turn bright red at maturity in late summer. Each fruit is 5 mm in diameter and contains typically one or two ellipically shaped stones. [Wikipedia]

Bunchberry Cornus Canadensis This small bunchberry growth is sheltering under a Balsam Fir.

Bunchberry Cornus Canadensis This picture shows the bunchberry being fertilized by a fly, a very common way that many flowers are fertilized in the alpine zone. The white “petals” are actually bracts (a modified leaf). The plant has already flowered and withered away, leaving only the very small calyx tubes shown in the middle of the bracts and under the feet of the fly.

Diapensia Diapensia Lapponica Diapensia is a small evergreen and perennial shrub. It grows only in the alpine zone. The leaves are blunt, leathery and thick. They can be seen at the base of the flower stalk. In this picture the flowers have already bloomed, leaving only the bracts with the calyx tube inside.

Heart Leaved Paper Birch Betula Papyrifera The tree is out of place in the alpine zone. Its natural habitat is about 3,000 feet below the alpine zone. The tree has just been established and will grow over the summer, per the naturalist at AMC's Pinkham Notch Center. It can survive in the arctic zone of Mt Washington, but it will be stunted.

Indian Poke and Mountain Avens Indian Poke / False Hellebore Veratrum viride This flower is large and very conspicuous among the other alpine flowers. This picture shows the Indian Poke in a field of Mountain Avens. It certainly gives a good idea of the side of the plant. The plant is common in wetlands, as can be seen in the streamside pictures.

Indian Poke / False Hellebore Veratrum viride At the end of June the plant is just beginning to flower, as can be seen in this picture. This was the only plant that was flowering. There are 3 Indian Pokes which can be seen in the pictures at streamside. None have started to flower.

Labrador Tea Ledum Groenlandicum The gorgeous little white balls are the flowers from the Labrador Tea shrub. Labrador tea is a low shrub with evergreen leaves. The leaves are smooth on top with often wrinkled edges, and fuzzy white to red-brown underneath. The tiny white flowers grow in hemispherical clusters, are very fragrant and are sticky. The plant is a member of the Heath family (Ericaceae).

Moss Campion Silene acaulis Moss campion is a small mountain-dwelling wildflower that is common all over the high arctic and the higher mountains of Eurasia and North America, (south to the Alps, Carpathians, southern Siberia, Pyrenees, British Isles, Faroe Islands, Rocky Mountains, ). It is densely tufted, forming domed cushions composed of long shoots with four or five small green leaves at their apex and many remnants of old leaves below. The cushion has a solid, very long taproot. The leaves are narrow with short stiff hairs on the margin. Numerous pink (rarely white) flowers, seldom more than one on each shoot; the petals are distinctly longer than the calyx. With the cushions it produces its own, warmer climate with high temperatures inside, when the sun shines. [Wikipedia]

Mountain Avens Geum Peckii The Mountain Avens is a member of the Rose family. This specific species exists only in the White Mountains and Nova Scotia. [AMC]