Lily-putian Delight

Tucked off a side road between Cairo and Bainbridge, Georgia, Wolf Creek Trout Lily Preserve is an ephemeral gem for flower lovers. For just a few weeks each year, this 140 acre county-owned parcel offers a Lilliputian spectacle in the form of a woodland full of dimpled trout lilies. What makes this noteworthy is the location. Typically, these blooms are found in the Appalachian Mountains hundreds of miles to the north.

The working theory has the lilies migrating to pockets in Southwest Georgia and North Florida at the time of the last ice age. But for whatever reason the flowers find this dot on the map hospitable, visitors can be grateful that it came to the attention of Dan Miller in 2006. Miller, a nurseryman from nearby Tallahassee, Florida, helped initiate discussions to conserve this remarkable resource with the then-landowner, the Flint River Timber Company. In 2009, after piecing together funding, the land was purchased for the purpose of establishing the preserve.

Now, in the late winter or early spring while the diminutive lilies are in bloom, the rustic preserve is open for all to enjoy. Tours are offered, but I chose to explore on my own. If you are lucky (as I was), you may well encounter Dan Miller at the trailhead as he points out features on a photocopied map.

Tree branches are used to roughly sketch out the makeshift path hewed by the volunteers that maintain the preserve. About fifty feet down the trail I encounter my first patch of trout lilies up close, only to turn to my left and be dazzled by a veritable carpet of tiny yellow flowers. The occasional wild violet stands out amongst the lilies like brilliant amethyst in a jeweler's case of citrine.

There are many other things besides the lilies to enjoy within the preserve: tall magnolias with waxy green leaves; hophornbeam, hickory, and American beech; gnarled Florida maples with mossy bases; tethers of wild muscadine and rattan vine, cords thicker than a lumberjack's wrist. Decaying logs bear impressive assemblages of lichen and fungi. Frogs sound off in the distance, mixed with noises of the birds and traffic on Highway 84.

Descending from the upper trail, I am surrounded by the muted emerald fans of dwarf palmetto. The trail becomes wetter, but if muck is no deterrent, follow the brightly colored flagging tape down a detour to Wolf Creek. As with detouring to visit the preserve itself, you are sure to be rewarded.