Sunday, June 26, 2011

wild orchids

I have been so busy hustling to make ends meet and trying to get my garden in in the few scraps of spare time that I have that I ended up missing a lot this spring/summer. But at least I did not completely miss the ladyslippers.
I have three ladyslipper spots out east within walking distance of each other. The first two were a complete bust--no ladyslippers at all, not even any evidence that they ever existed. In the third spot I finally found one blooming, and a few more plants with just leaves.

I also have/had coralroot and twinflower spots out east, too, but it's too late for twinflower and I haven't seen the coralroot there in years. Coralroot is my favorite orchid because it was my "first," and because how can you not like a plant that forgoes chlorophyll? I saw some in Hartley a few weeks ago, but they weren't flowering yet, and I've seen them in Jay Cooke in the past but I never get out to Jay Cooke unless somebody drives me there.

Also today caught the very tail end of the trillium--I found exactly two plants with slightly crusty but intact petals--and the clintonia. I was hoping the cold spring would have slowed things down a bit more for me, but no such luck. Still, it is very odd for it to be almost July and to still have trillium with flowers. Thimbleberries and roses both blooming heartily, dewberries starting to flower, and strawberries, mertensia, bunchberries and mayflowers still hanging on from spring.