By: 
Chris Pistole
 Updated: 
Dogwood Blooms at Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area

Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area, located next to Beaver Lake in the Ozark Mountains ecoregion of northwest Arkansas, is the largest State Park in Arkansas with over 12,000 acres. Our mission is to provide enriching educational and recreational experiences in harmony with resource stewardship.

With care, the balance of nature in the forest can provide opportunities for inspiration and wonder today, just as it has for people in the past.

In this photo essay are images of wildflowers that grow here—where their habitat is protected—and that you might see along our many miles of trails. We hope that the quotes from famous writers and artists accompanying these photos inspire you to appreciate the diversity of life found at Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area.

Four purple hepatica blooms with brown leaf litter in background

Plant: hepatica

“Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.” - Henry David Thoreau

Close up of yellow buttercup bloom

Plant: buttercup

 

“The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another's, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises.” - Leo Buscaglia

Close up of three red, white, and yellow columbine flowers in three stages of blooming with green foliage in background

Plant: columbine (image credit S. Chyrchel)

“How does the Meadow flower its bloom unfold? Because the lovely little flower is free down to its root, and in that freedom bold.” - William Wordsworth

 about ten yellow dwarf dandelion blooms surrounded by green foliage

Plant: dwarf dandelion

“I wanted to know the name of every stone and flower and insect and bird and beast. I wanted to know where it got its color, where it got its life - but there was no one to tell me.” - George Washington Carver

close up of several green goldenseal leaves and one white bloom

Plant: goldenseal

“It's so clear that you have to cherish everyone. I think that's what I get from these older black women, that every soul is to be cherished, that every flower is to bloom.” - Alice Walker

About 15 orange blooms and green foliage, with brown tree leaf litter in background

Plant: orange puccoon

“For man, as for flower and beast and bird, the supreme triumph is to be most vividly, most perfectly alive.” - D.H. Lawrence

Close up of several white blooms with yellow centers and green foliage, with brown tree leaf litter in background

Plant: Robin’s plantain

“When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not.” - Georgia O’Keeffe

Close up of light pink bloom with two other blooms and green foliage in background

Plant: rue anemone

“If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly our whole life would change.” – Buddha

Five pale purple sorrel blooms with green and purple foliage and brown tree leaf litter in background

Plant: violet wood sorrel

“Flowers don’t tell, they show.” – Stephanie Skeem

Several white blooms surrounded by green foliage

Plant: Virginia waterleaf

“Flowers are the music of the ground. From earth’s lips spoken without sound.” – Edwin Curran

Close up of many pale pink and white blooms on stalks of green foliage with red stems

Plant: widow’s cross

“Where flowers bloom so does hope.” – Lady Bird Johnson

Close up of two yellow and one purple blooms, surrounded by green foliage

Plants: yellow violet and woolly blue violet

“Flowers always make people better, happier and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.” – Luther Burbank

Whatever wildflowers mean to you, we’d love for you share your thoughts with us by sending an email to the following address: [email protected].

With care, the balance of nature in the forest can provide opportunities for inspiration and wonder today, just as it has for people in the past. Remember to help us protect these beauties by using “Leave No Trace” ethics and leaving flowers growing in the forest for other visitors to experience.