Winter Woods
By: Anne Mitchell Plant Rescue Team

Springtime is breathtaking; summer is lush, autumn is glorious. But winter may be my favorite season in the Georgia mountains. For one thing, you can walk in the woods without having to contend with snakes, yellow jackets or gnats. For another, you can see forever. From my window Lake Chatuge sparkles in the morning sun and the mountains rise and fade in rows against the sky.

The bare branches of trees silhouetted against a sunrise or sunset are simply splendid -- they're not bad against a clear blue sky or lowering clouds either -- not to mention the ephemeral look of being shrouded in early morning mists.

In winter birds gather at the feeders, sometimes sharing, sometimes squabbling. There is an amazing variety: titmouse, goldfinches,

Carolina chickadees, nuthatches (regular and the tiny, almost tailless brown-headed nuthatch), downy woodpeckers, a pair of cardinals, an occasional wren, a junco feeding on the porch below the feeder, doves doing the same on the ground. Lately large crows have learned to launch themselves from the porch rail, grab a bite of suet and flap off to the trees.

The winter woods offers mostly shades of brown and green. The red holly berries were missing this year, probably because of the drought; and the dogwood berries have long since been devoured. The starkness of the bare limbs is softened by evergreens: the feathery pines, cedars and hemlocks, the bright brashness of holly (even without the berries), the leathery look of rhododendron and the sturdy laurels, Christmas ferns -- and underneath them all, my favorite "winter" green -- the Pipsissewa. Also known as spotted or striped wintergreen, this sturdy little evergreen shrub has dark green leaves with white veins. In late May or early June it sends up a stem from which one to three pendant white or pinkish flowers appear. My flower book says they are "found in dry, acid woodlands up to 4,000 feet." They are rather solitary; perhaps that is what makes them special (that, and the name). When you find one with it's striking foliage, peeking from under the leaves, and you know what it will look like in a month or two, it becomes a little symbol of endurance and hope.

Don't spend your whole winter waiting for the flashy opulence of flame azaleas and dwarf crested iris. Get out there, shuffle through the leaves and find a pipsissewa, remember where it is, check it out again in May and June and say its name. It will make you happy!

For more information about the Plant Rescue Project, contact Jennifer Cordier (706- 7459317) ivylog@alltel.net or Glen Henderson abletinker@aol.com.