Duke Gardens on Easter Weekend

Saturday, we took Harper for her first visit to Duke Gardens over the Easter weekend.  We arrived a little after 8 to mostly beat the crowds and headed down to the rose gardens where lots of roses and other flowers were blooming around the fountain.

Since we didn't have Alex, we hiked through the Blomquist Native Plants Garden.

There were lots of beautiful plants that are native to the area, including many we see on our hikes.

Jack in the pulpit, flame azalea and trilliums are some of the flowers we often see in the woods.

Witch alder had cool white flowers.

There was even a Trillium Walk, with many species of beautiful trillium. 

After finishing up the garden, we hiked around the south lawn and to the terraces where the tulips were in peak bloom.

There were also lots of daffodils and irises flowering here as well.

It was getting later in the morning and starting to get really crowded so we took after this.

Early Wildflowers at Carvers Creek

Sunday, we took Alex and Harper for a wildflower hike in the Sandhills.  We headed towards Fayetteville to the Sandhills Access for Carvers Creek State Park.  After getting our stuff together, we set out on Longleaf Pine Trail, the main trail on this side of the park.

Alex enjoys the soft, sandy trails on his paws.  In about a mile, we took the short spur out to Little Pond, an old farm pond.

Back on the main trail, we continued another mile to Fox Squirrel Loop Trail and then continued on Longleaf Pine out towards the end.

As the sun got higher in the sky and the temperatures warmed up, we started seeing more wildflowers popping up.

It was a little early, but the irises were starting to shoot up from the forest floor.

There were a couple big patches of pyxie-moss with its tiny flowers along the trail.

And lots of lots of birdsfoot violets.

It was about lunch time when we got back to the car.

Driving out, we stopped for a recreational survey from some NC State Students then went to get some lunch at Phoenix Bar and Grill.  It was in a country club but open to the public and had pretty good food and drinks.