On May 18, 2011, about 10 days before the usual bloom time, Charlie Andrews, Ken Gohring, Hugh Denny and Joe Coleman visited Mt. Cheaha State Park in Alabama, with Danny Hall of Birmingham as their guide, to see R. cumberlandense. Mt. Cheaha, south of I-20, is the southernmost location for R. cumberlandense.

As stated by Charlie Andrews: "We seem to have hit the peak. The biggest surprise to me was the large numbers of R. cumberlandense that grow on the mountain. I expected to see a few plants. We saw hundreds and hundreds of spectacular plants. I think their red color was not as strong as the pictures suggest. It was more orange-red -- of course to varying degrees.

"We think there may have been some R. calendulaceum blooming also because of large bloom size and glandular hairs on the corolla tubes.

"There were some R. periclymenoides in bloom and some that had already bloomed. We were not surprised to see what we thought may be hybrids.

"In another little draw down the mountain with a small spring branch flowing we found R. arborescens next to the water and large quantities of R. minus around the hillside.

"It was a great trip."