Tate’s Hell State Forest is a watershed; swamps are to be expected.

You may not think of visiting the northern border, with FR 22 separating the state forest on the south from the Apalachicola National Forest to the north, as a place to look for carnivorous plants. This is not on the wild flower trail which offers stupendous blooms off SR 65. It is over 8 miles east of Sumatra on a sandy forest road.

It was a wet non-winter and early spring and a section close to the New River is blooming right now.

Yellow pitcher plants will first catch your eye.

If you stop to examine the area, you will also see, Burke’s southern pitcher plants.

The full face of the flower is shown on the opening of this post.

Some are still in bud.

Pink sundews are all over the ground — hard not to step on them.

And interspersed are Zigzag bladderworts.

Also bunches of flattened pipewort.

They look like nature’s pincushions (like phone books, not a contemporary common reference.)

Bog club mosses can be found in the Apalachicola National Forest where the ground is perennuially wet, but they were in Tate’s Hell SF, also.

Looks like a green centipede.

Among all of that, the white bog violets are still blooming. These have thinner, longer leaves. There are more on the western section of Tate’s Hell SF than the eastern sections which has the white primrose leafed white violets.

Nearby, in small clumps, but noticeable because of their golden color, are Savannah sneezeweed.

At the New River one will see mayberry and high bush blueberries beginning to fruit.

And Atlantic White Cypress (cedar) fruiting.

Flatwoods St. John’s wort are still blooming.

And with the warmth, dragon flies appear — this one a blue corporal.

A great day to be out enjoying the forest.