ONLY AT GRANDFATHER
Visit Grandfather Mountain in May to encounter a spectacle that occurs nowhere else on Earth: the blooming of the rare and endangered pink-shell azalea!
New green leaves will just be reaching the slopes of Grandfather Mountain in mid-May when the pastel pink-shell Azalea vaseyi (vā-zē-ī) bursts upon the scene. Clouds of exquisite blossoms make their way up Grandfather’s slopes from May 10-25, blooming in mass at overlooks just inside the park early in May and opening in profusion across the high peaks later in the month.
The
shrub was discovered in 1878 by George Vasey, the first director of
the US National Herbarium. It is native to four mountainous counties
of North Carolina and grows in spruce fir forests at elevations between
3,000 and 5,500 feet.
Azalea vaseyi has a conservation status ranking of G3 and is considered globally endangered because there are fewer than 100 communities of the shrub known to exist on the planet. The world’s largest population grows on the slopes of Grandfather Mountain.
Grandfather's naturalists will be available to talk with guests about the Azalea vaseyi on Saturday and Sunday, May 10-11. Check the bulletin board outside the Nature Museum restaurant for program times and locations.
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