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Item details
Date
Name
Azalea Expedition: Flame Azaleas at Elk Knob State Park
Description
FIELD | Saturday, June 22, 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Instructor: Carson Ellis
$75 Adult Non-Member
(**Arboretum Members receive a 10% discount on all classes.)
BRN - Elective, 6 hours | BREG - Elective, 6 hours | NCEE - Criteria, 6 hours
Limit: 12
The flame azalea, Rhododendron calendulaceum, is one of the most familiar native azaleas in Western North Carolina. Around Asheville, these beautiful plants are typically seen lighting up the understory in early May. At higher elevations, however, they bloom weeks later and often grow in dense thickets atop open-canopy balds. Elk Knob, one of North Carolina’s newest state parks, is a fantastic location to see a unique high-elevation bald plant community and has expansive stands of Rhododendron calendulaceum that bloom en masse in mid-June.
Horticulturist and plant ecologist Carson Ellis, curator of the Arboretum’s National Native Azalea Garden, will lead participants up the two-mile trail, stopping to admire and discuss plants along the way. Gentle switchbacks ascend through shady forest, carpeted by sedges and dotted by wildflowers, to the sunny 5,500 foot summit. Once at risk of being developed, the Nature Conservancy and community fought to protect this special site, in part because of the rare and distinctive species that grow there! Participants will have the opportunity to look for plants like purple fringed orchid and Gray’s lily, both of which bloom around the same time as the Rhododendron calendulaceum.
Carson Ellis, born and raised in Asheville, NC, has been a life-long explorer of the mountains of Western North Carolina. Her love for the natural world inspired her to pursue a career studying and cultivating native plants. Following undergraduate work in environmental science and horticulture, she recently completed her M.S. Biology at Western Carolina University, where she researched the pollination networks of high-elevation rock outcrop plant communities. As a horticulturist, she has worked with the Highlands Biological Research Station, Memphis Botanic Garden, and Tennessee Plant Conservation Alliance, and recently joined The North Carolina Arboretum as the Curator of the National Native Azalea Collection. A lover of the arts, she enjoys painting, ceramics, and messing around on the mountain dulcimer in her free time. She considers the natural world her biggest source of inspiration and celebrates horticulture as the ideal synthesis of art and science.
Scholarship Consideration
Opportunities for learning through the Arboretum are open to all. If you want to participate and the cost of this program is a hardship for you or your family, please complete the Request for Scholarship Consideration Form. Our Adult & Continuing Education staff will be in touch with information on options.
Registration and Participation in In-Person Classes through the Arboretum
-- Registration for this class will close two days before the class start date.
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We're Sorry!
Tickets are no longer available online for this class. Please contact our Adult & Continuing Education Department with any questions at adulteducation@ncarboretum.org.