After I finished blowing the paths for the weekend, I chased butterflies around this Buddleia

I remember this plant from 1991. It used to seed around and still does. Buddleia is a problem plant in some places due to this tendency to spread by seed. It sure does pull the butterflies in!

Fern Valley Trail Project: we did this part ourselves

By which I mean again, not me, but the ASRT's. The massive contracted Bridge/Trail work that took place over the past couple of years addressed particular sections of the trails that were determined to need work. FV staff decided that this section needed attention.

On Wednesday, the project participants dug small footers laid a short wall (on the right hand, downhill, side, and built up the trail covering a lot of exposed roots that were tripping hazards, and generally improving the walkability (ouch) of the trail. That's especially important since many of the plants that we've collected over the past two years will end up in this section including the Shortia. I was struck yesterday by how similar this area is to the sites in North and South Carolina from which we collected the Shortia seed.