Yellow Ladyslipper
I was fortunate to grow up in the woods and spring was always associated with seeking out the orchids on my grandparent’s property. My mother, a skilled gardener, was the person who taught me that if for one reason or another, an orchid had to be moved, there was a complex protocol involved with no guarantees of survival. She believed that wildflowers knew just where and how to grow and that habitat was critical.
Once we found some bog orchids that had been exposed to the sun because the trees above them had died. I helped her move about a dozen to a more habitable environment. As a child, I didn’t realize that moving orchids was so tricky, or that some were rare. Amazingly, my mother’s transplants all survived. Today orchids, like all wildflowers, are at risk and in some states, it is illegal to move them at all.
However this doesn’t stop people from trying, and most do not know about the complex relationship between the orchid and the mycorrhizal relationship of the underground highway. Consequently, orchids that are moved rarely last more than a year or two.
When I first moved to this area, wild lady slipper orchids grew on the Gore road, and when it became obvious that they would be destroyed by a widening road and heavy traffic pollution, I dug and transplanted orchids near other wild ones on this property. They survived.
More recently I have lost some lady slippers to deer, who love to eat their tasty flowers and leaves. When bears roamed here they munched them down too! Some orchids disappeared. But I trusted the forest to take care of her own, and after a number of years, my lady slippers returned – just in the last couple of years, a number of pink/white lady slippers have popped up in the same places others used to grow.
Like my mother, I believe that it is critical to allow nature to make decisions about where a plant will thrive, so I do not interfere, and except for the one-time survival transplanting (did the same with trillium and arbutus), I spend my time trying to discover these beauties in wild places.
It takes years for orchids to bloom and the circumstances must be just right, so patience is a necessity. When the first yellow slipper orchid appeared on this property, I was thrilled. Now I have three, along with a plethora of pink and white lady slippers.
Because I spend a lot of time in the woods elsewhere I have discovered hundreds of lady slippers and a number of fringed orchids; most are lady’s tresses. Still, I have to admit that one of my absolutely favorite orchids is the still common rose pogonia, a sphagnum-loving favorite. I have none growing here but they are easily spotted in June on the Gore road.
While teaching at University I received a grant to study medicinal plants in the Amazon and spent part of three summers doing research with local shamans and healers. It was during this period that I discovered that the Amazon was a hot spot for tropical orchids. Most orchid species come from this area – or did – until the rape of the forest began. In my free time, my guide and I would seek out these wonders, none of which I had ever seen before. Local guides scale trees with ease and so I met orchids I couldn’t even imagine existed. Each, of course, had its niche high in the canopy, and although I photographed some of these beauties, they were always respectively returned to their homes unscathed.
After my three-year apprenticeship was finished, I began to grow commercial orchids here at home, but over time the work of caring for up to 75 orchids became somewhat overwhelming. When I moved to New Mexico for four winters I gave away my orchid collection and did not regret it. Now I have closed a circle and have returned to the beginning – taking to the woods as I did as a child, seeking out our orchid and wildflower treasures, never knowing just what I will find.
This year has been the best orchid year I have ever had, and I am aware that there are some species that will bloom well into August.
In Maine, we have approximately 48 species of wild orchids and some freely hybridize with others.
Our pink lady slippers are the most common. Most are gone now, but the yellow lady slipper can still be found blooming, as well as the purple fringed orchid. And there are others to come that are easy to miss because of size or scarcity in a particular area. We are fortunate to have as many wild orchids as we do and it is a challenge to find some of them! If you are so inclined, it is not too late to take to the forest to look for orchids. Do your research first so you have an idea of what you are looking for. Enjoy the flowers and take the time to examine this complex group carefully. Most have only one pollinator. An example is the lady slipper orchid that is pollinated by bumblebees. But please, please, do not attempt to remove these plants from their homes or pick their flowers.
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