Arabia Mountain pt. 2 - the beauty

I've read that a few of the plant species on the mountain are endangered, and one or two only exist in a few places in the United States outside of Arabia. I would have loved to have a horticulturist on the hike with us to tell us about all about it! I suppose I'll have to go back some other time so that I can get the specifics. I am fairly sure that the shrub in the photo below is Hawthorne. It is a native to Georgia, and is a foundation shrub in a lot of yards around our area. The ones on the mountain were different from the Hawthorne that I was accustomed to. The were incredibly old, had gnarled trunks, and were covered in moss and lichens. It is really impressive seeing how a plant can adapt and thrive under very difficult growing conditions!

My darling friend Leuwam, who I mentioned in Arabia pt. 1, told me that the little red plants below are a type of Diamorpha. Based on that, I did a little research online and found that one common name for this variety is Small's Stonecrop.

Arabia is the perfect place for lichen lovers! Once you hit a certain elevation they just start covering the rock everywhere. So beautiful!

All of the colors and textures were just incredible and got me really inspired. I have one color scheme in mine that I'd like to pull directly from the tones I saw on our trip!