The thick canopy of leaves is casting deep shade in Shakerag Hollow. Two hours after sunrise it is still dark enough to cause katydids to continue their nighttime songs.

Remarkably, American bellflowers (Campanulastrum americanum) choose this time of year to flower, a strategy that ensures they have few competitors for pollination but little sunlight. They hold their thumbnail-sized blooms on long, bendy stalks above rough, tapered leaves.