Saturday, April 27, 2013

Third Week of the Native Orchid Season - Fairy Slippers and Spotted Coralroots


April 21-27

The third week of the native orchid season we were able to get out twice for some orchid hunting.  On Monday, April 22, we climbed Mount Si near North Bend, Washington, and on our way down found a few Western Fairy Slippers, Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis, blooming at lower elevations.



Friday afternoon we visited Sehome Hill Arboretum in Bellingham, looking for Fairy Slippers where we had found one poor flower the year before.  We were able to find quite a few more in that area, though many of them were going by as a result of a very early spring and will soon be finished there.



 This one was either deformed or not yet fully opened,
but shows some of the details of the flowers.


To our surprise we also found a few spikes of the Western Spotted Coralroot, Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis, starting to bloom.  The earliest date I have for these is May 10th, so they, too, are several weeks early, though some spikes had not yet started to bloom.








8 comments:

Unknown said...

Lindo e maravilhoso, obrigada por compartilhar tamanha beleza.
abraços

Ron said...

Thank you, Elisabete. Your visits and comments are always appreciated. These are very different, aren't they, from the tropical orchids we are so used to.

Unknown said...

Very nice. Another excellent series, with the last two standing out. I really adore the contrast of the fresh red with the pale green. Very beautiful plant.

I have an appointment this weekend 5th of May with Corallorhiza trifida (or more like 800 of them) in eastern Hesse. Not sure yet if I am goind to go, because I have to work this saturday - again :(

But: finally our orchid season has started. This season my first find was Dactylorhiza sambucina, which is unusual for me. But what is normal in this crazy year. The second one was Ophrys insectifera, even more unusual and the third species was Ophrys araneola, which is always among the earliest. It has begun - FINALLY :)

Ron said...

Thanks, Martin. We were out today looking for the Eastern Fairy Slipper, but everything is late east of the mountains in spite of the fact that things are early on our side. Even had snow in the mountains and where we looked for the Fairy Slippers all we found were a few leaves starting.

Upupaepops said...

I saw a few coralroot at Sharpe Park starting to open.

Everything feels early

Ron said...

There were quite a few of them at Washington Park. Things seem really early, but oddly, they seem way behind on the other side of the mountains. We were in the area of Bonaparte Lake earlier in the week and nothing at all was growing or blooming there yet.

Anonymous said...

Excellent series, so far, Ron! I feel your pain when it comes to photographing in the wind. Great work!

Jim Fowler, Greenville, SC

Ron said...

Missed this comment earlier. Sorry, Jim. Appreciate the interest and the comments.