Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 24

GEORGIA Gardens
By Georgann Eubanks
Wolf Creek Trout Lily Preserve
ushers in springtime
N
ear Cairo, just a few miles north of the Florida state
line, Mother Nature puts on a show every year around
Valentine's Day. Here, leafless hardwood trees allow
the late-winter sun to warm up the sloping understory of the
Wolf Creek Trout Lily Preserve, and tens of millions of dimpled
trout lilies (Erythronium umbilicatum) blossom early each
afternoon in near unison.
The lilies' glowing yellow flowers carpet the forest floor as
far as the eye can see. Their mottled leaves resemble the skin of
a trout, hence their name. Each blossom, scarcely an inch long,
is pollinated by bees and breezes before closing for the night.
Within a few weeks, the plants will be gone without a trace.
Botanists believe that this spring wildflower, which is more
commonly found from the North Georgia mountains all the way
up to Canada, was probably pushed south to
this unlikely location during the last ice age.
Each year, ants help spread the plants
by harvesting the lilies' seeds, which form
in pods about the size of a chickpea. The
ants are drawn to the fatty, sweet part of the
pods, which they carry away and consume,
leaving the seeds to grow in new locations
the next year.
Lily lovers to the rescue
This late-winter display might not have
continued had it not been for a team of
devoted naturalists.
" When they four-laned U.S. Highway 84
in the late 1980s, a biologist with the Georgia
Department of Transportation saw a plant
he didn't recognize on the roadside in Grady County, " retired ecologist
Wilson Baker says.
This state employee contacted Angus Gholson, a well-known
conservationist and manager of nearby Lake Seminole. Gholson visited the
property and found the dimpled trout lilies and another spring wildflower,
the spotted trillium.
" Angus knew it was a special distribution of these plants in an unlikely
Above: Each bloom opens in late morning or early
afternoon and closes at dusk. Inset: Cairo resident
Margaret Tyson is a longtime volunteer at the preserve
and a member of its advisory board.
24 Georgia Magazine February 2023
place, " Baker explains, but it was Baker who finally walked farther back into
the woods and discovered the extraordinary profusion of lilies. Gholson,
Baker and others, including the landowners, were wowed by the sight.
" I'd been around trout lilies in North Georgia, and I'd seen what were
considered large populations up there. But nothing like this, " Baker says.
" We got to talking to other botanists, including the late Tom Patrick of the
RICHARD BARNES
DONNA CAMPBELL
RICHARD BARNES

Georgia Magazine - February 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - February 2023

Contents
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - Intro
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - Cover1
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - Cover2
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - Contents
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 4
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 5
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 6
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 7
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 8
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 9
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 10
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 11
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 12
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 13
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 14
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 15
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 16
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 17
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 18
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 19
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 20
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 21
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 22
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 23
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 24
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 25
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 26
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 27
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 28
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 29
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 30
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 31
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 32
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 33
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - 34
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - Cover3
Georgia Magazine - February 2023 - Cover4
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