2010 Alpine Garden Tour
Specific trails and areas are mentioned in this gallery. An internet inquiry regarding any trail mentioned in this article should bring up a map or further information regarding the trail. All the trails mentioned are within 700 feet of the top of Mt. Washington, in New Hampshire.
The Appalachian Mountain Club has authored a book, AMC Field Guide to the New England Alpine Summits, by Nancy Slack and Allison Bell, published by The Appalachian Mountain Club Books, Boston, Massachusetts, 2006. This article uses that book as its prime reference source. Specific quotes are identified by {AMC Guide} after the paragraph. Information from Wikipedia is identified by [Wikipedia] after the paragraph. An AMC naturalist at the AMC Pinkham Notch Visitors Center, Ms. Carolyn Loeb, was very helpful in identifying the plants, shrubs, trees and wildlife in these pictures.
This area of Mt. Washington is definitely above tree line, as these pictures of the alpine garden attests. The garden is also within what is called “the alpine zone”. It is well named. Mt. Washington is constantly about 10 to 20 degrees below the temperature at the base of the mountain. The winds are almost always blowing and they can be very cold. Fog is not unusual and can be seen in various pictures in this gallery. It can be a very harsh environment.
From these photographs, and others taken on other hikes in the Presidential Range, I have developed a presentation titled "Those Amazing Plants in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains". If you are interested in further details about the presentation, please e-mail me at info@AlbertMartinPhotography.com
![Bunchberry<br />
Cornus Canadensis<br />
<br />
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]](https://photos.smugmug.com/TheAlpineZone/2010-Alpine-Garden/i-CDmwTKs/0/32262d9d/L/Bunchberry%201-L.jpg)
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]
Alpine GardenMt. WashingtonJune 2010Alpine Garden Trailbunchberry
![Bigelow sedge<br />
Carex Bigelowii<br />
<br />
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.<br />
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]<br />
<br />
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.](https://photos.smugmug.com/TheAlpineZone/2010-Alpine-Garden/i-wJgJntG/0/50eeaa30/Ti/Bigelow%20Sedge%20at%20Auto%20Road-Ti.jpg)
![Bigelow sedge<br />
Carex Bigelowii<br />
<br />
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]](https://photos.smugmug.com/TheAlpineZone/2010-Alpine-Garden/i-qdskFh3/0/578f295e/Ti/Bigelow%20Sedge-Ti.jpg)
![Bunchberry<br />
Cornus Canadensis<br />
<br />
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]](https://photos.smugmug.com/TheAlpineZone/2010-Alpine-Garden/i-CDmwTKs/0/32262d9d/Ti/Bunchberry%201-Ti.jpg)
![Moss Campion<br />
Silene acaulis<br />
<br />
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]](https://photos.smugmug.com/TheAlpineZone/2010-Alpine-Garden/i-tpc9Ffh/0/bd230515/Ti/Moss%20Campion-Ti.jpg)