How to Find Native Wildflowers, and Recommended Guidebooks to Identify Them

Find a large wooded piece of property near your home that has a good trail network and which you can visit conveniently. State and county parks are excellent candidates.

Alternatively, buy a large wooded piece of property and put a house in the middle of it. Fifty to one-hundred acres is a good minimum. The property should have a good trail network. If not, build one.

Buy two or three wildflower identification guidebooks. Here are a couple of my favorites:

• Wildflowers of North Carolina, 2nd edition, by Justice, Bell and Lindsey
• Forest Plants of the Southeast and Their Wildlife Uses, by Miller and Miller
• A Guide to the Wildflowers of South Carolina, by Porcher and Rayner

Walk the property on a regular basis, at least three times a week from March through October. As you walk, scan the woods around you, focusing on the forest floor within ten feet of the trail. Scan extra carefully around stream banks, ravines, bluffs, rock outcroppings, and any other noteworthy terrain.

If you see something unusual, take a closer look. If it's a flower, snap several close up pictures. One picture is not enough, more on that below. An inexpensive point and shoot camera will suffice, as long as it has a macro setting. A smartphone with a very high quality camera may also work, but I can't say for sure. You will be tempted to stand over the flower and zoom in. Don't. Get down on ground level so you hold the lens close to the flower.

When you return home, upload the pictures to your computer so you can view them on the big screen. Delete the nine out of ten pictures that are out of focus, too dark, too bright, or had your finger in the frame. Grab one of your wildflower identification books and start slowly flipping through the pages. When you see a flower that looks similar to the picture you took, study it more carefully and read the written description.

Repeat on a regular basis for several years. Something strange will start to occur. You will begin to remember where certain flowers bloom each year. You will start looking for them in early spring when they first emerge from the ground. You will watch them grow from week to week, and finally see a flower bud, and then the fully opened blossom. Your dogs will begin to get frustrated since you stop on the trail every 10 feet to inspect some boring plant. Your wife will insist you leave the camera at home when you walk together so she doesn't have to wait for you to snap 40 pictures of every tiny little blossom.

You will also begin to see other types of forest creatures, and will want more guidebooks to figure out what they are. I recommend these:

• Common Forest Trees of North Carolina, published by the NC Forest Service
• Trees of the Carolinas Field Guide by Stan Tekiela
• Birds of the Carolinas by Potter, Parnell and Teulings
• A Guide to the Snakes of North Carolina by Michael Dorcas
• Amphibians & Reptiles of the Carolinas & Virginia by Martof, Palmer, Bailey, Harrison & Dermid.
• Mammals of the Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland by Webster, Parnell and Biggs
• Butterflies of North Carolina, South Carolina & Georgia, by Marc Minno (a laminated "pocket" reference)