State foraging calendar
North Carolina Foraging Calendar
North Carolina holds two of the most productive foraging landscapes in the eastern US within its borders: the southern Appalachian high country with the finest ramp habitat in North America, and the barrier island coast with its distinctive coastal foraging. The state's plant diversity is extraordinary by temperate standards, with the southern Appalachians home to more tree species than all of northern Europe combined. Spring is the peak season statewide, with ramps, morels, fiddleheads, and spring greens emerging in rapid succession from March through May. Fall brings a second wave of chanterelles, hen of the woods, and wild persimmons in both the mountains and the Piedmont.
4 bioregions across North Carolina
Loading map…
Tap a region to see what's in season
Bioregions of North Carolina
Foraging seasons shift sharply between North Carolina's ecoregions. Pick the one nearest you for a 12-month calendar of what is in season.
Piedmont
180 speciesRolling Piedmont hardwood forests with muscadine grapes along forest edges, pawpaws in bottomland floodplains, and autumn mushrooms in mature stands of oak, hickory, and beech.
View calendar →Southeastern Plains
175 speciesNorth Carolina's coastal plain longleaf flatwoods and pocosin wetlands with huckleberries, blueberries, muscadine grapes in forest edges, and sea rocket and glasswort along the barrier island coast.
View calendar →Blue Ridge Mountains
170 speciesThe cultural heart of Appalachian ramp country, with extraordinary spring foraging for ramps, morels, spring beauties, and trout lilies in the high country, followed by fall chanterelles, chicken of the woods, and wild persimmons.
View calendar →Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain
168 speciesNortheastern North Carolina's coastal plain, with sea rocket and glasswort in the salt marsh and pawpaws and elderberries in the river-corridor forests.
View calendar →Always confirm any wild edible with multiple sources and an experienced local guide before eating it. Many edible species have toxic look-alikes.