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Parkway Blueberries Ready for Pick'in
August 16, 2007
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This is the Blue Ridge Parkway wildflower report for August 10, 2007. As we enter the last month of the summer, the Parkway becomes the first choice for a place to escape the sweltering heat of the piedmont and lowlands. Temperatures are often twenty or more degrees lower especially in the high elevations of the Park in North Carolina. As perennial as the Mother's Day drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway and a half-season later during the month of August, nature presents its bounty to visitors. This small and bursting-flavor fruit finds its way this time of year into pies and home made ice cream. Conversations found on the "my favorite hillside" always include a discussion as to whether it is a "blueberry or a huckleberry"? George Ellison, western North Carolina's noted naturalist, responds, "yes, there are a differences but the comparisons run as do the conversations about distinguishing goldenrods and asters. There has been so much opportunity for cross fertilization and hybridization that the lines become more blurred every year. The differences are actually in the shape and toothing of the leaves". This prolific fruit can be found abundantly on the Blue Ridge Parkway at elevations over 4,000 feet; but the size of the berries this year are smaller because of the dry summer that western North Carolina has experienced. Graveyard Fields, the Craggies, the Blacks Balsam Range, and the Grandfather Mountain corridor remain the popular destinations for finding this delicious fruit. For more information about the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, visit http://www.brpfoundation.org/media_access.php or contact the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation at (336) 721-0260. Get your own Blue Ridge blueberry seeds at the Blue Ridge Parkway Bookstore.
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