Next weekend, June 6th-7th should be prime for the Alpine Garden, yes? If not, when do you suspect will be the best days?
Do you know of any areas where they tend to bloom earlier? Maybe on more protected sides or lower ridges? Bondcliff, Moosilaukee, Chocorua, Moats?
So here's the deal. You get quite a bit of variation with altitude & aspect (which way the slope slopes). It's because the rate of photosynthesis increases w/ temperature and the temperature is higher on south slopes and lower altitudes. The southern Presis (esp. Pierce & Eisenhower) are almost always going to start and stop earlier than the east & north side of Mt. Washington; 4000ft is going to be earlier than 5000+ ft. If I were taking someone from out of state to the Alpine Garden I would probably pick mid-June (e.g. June 12-18) as that has been good for me in the past.
Diapensia + Lapland rosebay + alpine azalea all start blooming about the same time (maybe a tad later w/ alpine azalea) but Lapland rosebay doesn't last as long. The willows should also be in bloom shortly. I'm drawing a blank about what else would be of interest about now.
Are there species that bloom earlier, even slightly, before the diapensia and rosebay?
Empetrum eamesii (purple crowberry) and E. nigrum are probably in late bloom now. (if anyone with GOOD EXPERIENCE in macro photography is going to be up there in the very near future, please PM me -- I'm working w/ some folks w/ New England Wildflower Society on getting photographs some of the more obscure species. The picture below on the right I took 2 yrs ago in late May on Mt. Eisenhower and I don't consider it a really good picture, too hard to get good focus + depth of field)
Also below are two photos showing both Empetrum species -- there are a number of places where both are common, incl. the Mt Wash Auto Rd at about 4000ft, and near the Glen Boulder, and they're not hard to tell apart once you know what to look for. I think these photos were from Glen Boulder.
In the 1st pic E. nigrum is in the lower left and E. eamesii is in the upper right. Purple crowberry has whitish hairs on stems + some on the leaf margins too. Black crowberry doesn't have the hairs so it looks glossy + with more brownish stems. The 3rd pic shows staminate flowers of E. eamesii. No sepals or petals, just stamens (purple filaments and purplish-black anthers).
If you have an
extremely good eye you may find Arctostaphylos alpina (alpine bearberry) in bloom but it's really tough. I went back one year to a spot I had marked on my GPS and I
still had to wander around in the general area a number of times before I found the plants -- the leaves probably aren't out yet.
