Come out for a walk and wander along the center trail in the Gin House Field.
We are having a phenomenal False Foxglove or Agalinis bloom. You do not want to miss this rare opportunity to see the Gin House Field turn pink. It has been years since we’ve seen Agalinis put on a show like this. Go all the way to the west end to see the full expanse. Morning is the best time—the flowers will be wide open and very colorful early in the day but they tend to lose their enthusiasm in the heat of the afternoon.
As you walk along the trail to the west you will become surrounded by a “Pink Cloud”, as Betty Komarek and the 1980s Leadership Training group used to call it. There is something delightful and compelling about being out under the open sky in the middle of all that beauty—thousands of perfect pink flowers dancing in the breeze as far as you can see….
False Foxglove is popular with pollinators and is beloved by many species of bees and butterflies. It serves as a host plant for the Buckeye Butterfly, so you may see some spiky little black, white, and orange caterpillars chewing their way through the leaves and flowers.
We highly recommend that you come out soon!
The bloom will last for several weeks, but it is peaking fast. It has taken less than a week to go from a few scattered plants in bloom to wide swaths of the field turning bright pink. Seeing this is guaranteed to lift your spirits.
The next few weeks at Birdsong will no doubt prove to be surprising and colorful as the fall bloom moves forward fast, helped along by this beautiful sunny weather. Other gold and purple wildflowers are also starting to take off as well: Pittyopsis, Goldenrod, Liatris, and Mistflower are but a few. The long-stemmed grasses, too, have started extending their metallic seedheads into the air.
In the next few weeks we’ll be sending you some interesting articles on gardening with natives, planting native trees, and the wonders of wild azaleas written by some of our longtime plant sale specialists. We hope they are helpful as you consider what kind of fall planting you want to do in your own garden this year.
We will sell plants this fall over a series of weekends starting on Saturday, October 23
Fall is a delightful time to be outdoors and we hope you will come out and enjoy all Birdsong has to offer We’ll see you soon out in the Gin House Field!
Now Open
Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 9-5
Sunday 1-5
Admission
$5 adults
$2.50 Children 4-12
Covid Protocols
We will continue to observe our Covid-19 protocols, including wearing a mask through the checkpoint and when encountering other individuals closer than six feet away. Once you are out on the trails away from others, masks are not required. Our Covid protocols can be found on our website and on the back of our trail maps onsite.
