The Rites of Spring
Spring has sprung! Celebrate the most beautiful places to experience the season’s stunning colors.
The Rites of Spring
The Skagit Valley, Washington state: Springtime makes this verdant valley in northwest Washington explode with color, carpeting the land with hundreds of acres of tulips, daffodils and irises. The area is best known for the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, which runs throughout April and was featured in “1,000 Places to See Before You Die.” Display gardens abound throughout the valley for you to visit, but you can also enjoy the
living jewels without getting out of your car: Many of the flower fields lie right next to the road.
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The Rites of Spring
Austin, Texas: There’s no better place to appreciate the nation’s wildflowers than at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Part of the University of Texas at Austin, the facility is devoted to conserving, growing and demonstrating the beauty of wildflowers and native plants. Take a walk on some of the Wildflower Center’s miles of trails to enjoy meadows full of blooming prickly pear, Texas redbuds, asters, phlox, showy primroses and, of course, bluebonnets.
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The Rites of Spring
Washington, D.C.: Is there any more iconic rite of spring in the U.S. than the bursting of the cherry blossoms in the nation’s capital? The delicate sakura are some of the most striking and beautiful symbols of D.C. The perfect way to take them in is to stroll around the Tidal Basin next to the National Mall — lined by more than 3,000 cherry trees; the originals were a gift from Japan in 1912. The pink-and-white blossoms are expected to be at their peak this year from April 3-9.
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The Rites of Spring
Great Smoky Mountains National Park: The wide variety of elevations and latitudes in this 800-square-mile park — which straddles the border between North Carolina and Tennessee — makes for a wide variety of flora in these misty mountains, part of the southern Appalachians. More than 1,500 flowering plant species have been identified here, including flame azaleas, columbines, dwarf irises, larkspurs and mayapples. Be sure to see the “heath balds” — treeless, high-elevation areas that are home to thickets of mountain laurel, rhododendrons and sand myrtle.
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