Beds of Pink Flowers

The Pink Beds are named for their impressive display of flowering shrubs. Mountain Laurel is blooming now and Rosebay Rhododendron starts in a couple of weeks, just as Mountain Laurel’s blooms begin to fade. To early settlers looking down on the Pink Beds from the current location of the Blue Ridge Parkway, the vast fields of pink and white flowers were notable, and they named the location after them.

These shrubs form part of the understory, never reaching the tree canopy. Although they grow happily as understory plants, they flower most profusely when they receive some sunlight, as anyone growing horticultural varieties can attest. One reason the Laurel and Rhododendron of the Pink Beds bloomed so dramatically and were so clearly visible to those early settlers was that few mature trees stood in the way—large scale logging had cleared them. Now, the trees have grown back and it is easiest to appreciate the still impressive blooms from along the Pink Bed Loop Trail.

Unless in flower, the shrubs look alike, and this similarity has led to a confusing set of common names. Locally, Mountain Laurel is often called Ivy and Rosebay Rhododendron is called Laurel or Great Laurel. Both have evergreen leaves and reach about 25 feet in height, but the leaves of Mountain Laurel are much smaller than Rosebay Rhododendron, about two inches in length rather than six or more. While Rosebay Rhododendron is restricted to the spine of the Appalachians, from north Georgia up to Vermont, Mountain Laurel is more widely distributed. It occurs in most of the states of the East Coast, even making it into Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. In addition, it is more widely dispersed within each state, venturing out of the mountains into the foothills or piedmont.

Just to make things a little more interesting, there are other Rhododendrons, two of which are very common along higher ridges such as those of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Purple Laurel, or Mountain Rosebay (R. catawbiense), has purple flowers and predominates along peaks such as Devil’s Courthouse. It can be hard to distinguish from Rosebay Rhododendron unless in flower. White Rosebay (R. minus) has clear white, smaller flowers with leaves that are closer in size to those of Mountain Laurel. It also predominates along the parkway, especially on the slopes on the north side of the Devil’s Courthouse Tunnel. Mountain Rosebay blooms nearly the same time as Rosebay, but White Rosebay is just about over. Believe it or not, with a little practice, these different shrubs are possible to distinguish from each other!

The flowers of Mountain Laurel, like all other flowers, are designed to encourage pollination. They come in shades of pink or white and are shaped like upside-down ballerina tutus, with the petals fused together into a single corolla, or flower. Each of the ten pollen-bearing stamens arches outward and anchors its tip inside the rim of the flower in a tiny pocket until the pollen has matured. Then, when an insect lands on the flower and touches the stamen filament, its tip pops loose from the flower, curls over, and smacks the insect on the back, dusting it with pollen. When the insect visits another flower and brushes against the female stigma, the pollen is transferred to it.

You can imitate the insect by sticking your finger into the flower of a Mountain Laurel. Poke the spring-loaded filament and it should snap forward to leave a yellow dusting of pollen on your fingernail. If you play this game, however, finish it by transferring pollen to another flower’s stigma. If the flower is on another plant, the likelihood of a successful seed set is greater. Now is the time to get out and see some of those interesting and beautiful flowers!

PHOTO: Mountain Laurel in flower. Flower on the left, with stamens still stretched out, is “unsprung,” but the one on the right, with curled stamens, has been tripped.

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