rare find

Ma and I took a walk in the woods looking for morels this morning and for the second time in my life I found one of these little jewels.

This is a Showy Orchid. This particular plant was only about 5″ tall and the pic was taken with the macro setting. Once about twenty years ago I found one of these scarce orcids in bloom, also while morel hunting. This one was one of three blooming in a small bunch of 7 plants.

I bought one of these from a licensed wild-flower cultivator and had it bloom each spring in a shady corner of a protected garden here at home but its been gone for a couple years now. Like they are in the wild, they push up three or four leaves and a center stalk with flower buds. The flower and the leaves and stalk wither back into the ground until the next year. At best they are identifiable for only about ten days. What a find.

“Got to love mother nature”

Great timing!

Way super cool. Never seen one.

Joel

A friend of my would mow the lawn for a lady I knew only as “Granny”. She lived on the North Side of a private lake in the woods of Afton.

I had the privilege of tagging along with him to meet Granny one day. Her house was down a long driveway shrouded by woods. I’m guessing the property had seen it’s hay day in the ’50’s. The tennis court was over grown and in disrepair, the butlers quarters had seen it’s better days although it was at least three times the size of my house.

Anyway as we were walking through the property, Granny (who was always bare footed in the summer I was told) asked me if I knew what kind of plant these were, pointing to a group of flowers in a 5 foot square area.

I looked at them and my mouth dropped. I hadn’t seen a real wild Lady Slipper before and there was a patch of them! She then pointed to another patch not too far away with another color Lady Slipper.

Since then Granny has passed on. I would like to think that bare footed old lady’s slippers are still growing on her property.

Minnesota Tid Bits:

The showy lady’s slipper is Minnesota’s state flower. Since 1925, the state has regulated the collection and commercial sale of this species. The showy lady’s-slipper is one of 43 orchid species that grow in Minnesota. Many people consider it the most beautiful flower in the state. The leaves give sensitive people a rash.

Pretty cool Tom, my neighbor raises orchids and he says its the biggest species of plants on earth. Its nice to see native orchids because I didn’t even know we had any here in the northern states. We have alot of wild bluebells here and have never seen a wild orchid here in the woods.

I had a nice pair of Showey lady Slippers growing in the garden back when too. Again, bought from the licensed dude. I do have a clump of Miniature Moccasin flowers that will bloom in the next couple weeks….yup, the licensed dude.

Both times I have come across the Showey Orchids they have been very near the top of a north facing hillside in well shaded woodlands. There is some elm in the woods where I got the pic but its largely maple. Shade seems to be the name of the game for them. They aren’t top-side for very long at all and are easily lost in surround understory as it gets warmer and things get growing good. I was lucky to find these today. So many times these finds happen when Ma is at home or I don’t have a camera. Today I had both along…how cool.

That is an awesome looking flower! Nice find!

That flower is truly ” A thing of beauty and a joy forever!” We don’t even get excited when we spot them up here around Warroad! They are quite commonly spotted up here around the same time that Morel mushroom’s put in an appearance. Many time’s I’ve spotted scattered bunch’s of them growing in many of the ditch’s! Less than half a block away from my house there is a ditch where they usually grow in great profusion. Being able to see them as frequently as I can still hasn’t spoiled my appreciation of this magnificent flower! I still get a charge out of anytime I’m lucky enough to spot them! DIRTBALL2