Oh Bobert, It sounds so glorious, it makes me homesick. We used to camp a good bit over in the eastern mountains not too far from where you are (near Frost, WV) and I so remember those beautiful native azaleas. I would love to see all of your spring ephemerals blooming right now.

Joybell, I had forgotten this, but my one shady bed where I can grow a few of the plants Bobert just described was made from the sod I raked out of the front yard. I piled it up under a huge old Burford Holly and covered with black plastic for 2 years. THAT killed the *(&%##@ Bermuda grass!

Lightning bugs are still several weeks away from emerging where I live. I love catching them with my little boy. We put them a mesh bee cage overnight in his bedroom, and then turn them loose in the mornings.

The lightning bugs over in the North Carolina mountains are a different species from what we have here in the Piedmont, and to me, because of their strangeness, they are even more magical. They are smaller, they light-up white, and they move in cloud-like drifts. It is awesome to camp up in the mountains in summer and have them come drifting in around you in the dark.

Janie