As if I do not see enough around home, I always look for them when in Northern Maine. There is an overabundance of the white variant Pink Lady’s Slipper.
This pink individual was lit by a bit of light filtered through the leaves as the sun made its way up towards noon.
Can a flower be shy? This sweetheart has a bit of a blush. 🙂
And, finally, while not the most artistic of shots, this image is of a very nice bunch of 12 lovely ladys.
I think the next post will have some water in it. 🙂
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The pink ones are just as pretty as the white blossomed ones. A beautiful wildflower. It appears to grow where there the soil is rich with humus.
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Thanks, Yvonne. Yes, they grow in forests for the most part where there is good humus. Even more important, they have a symbiotic relationship (Mycorrhizae) with a fungus. The fungus helps the plant grow when young and the plant returns the favor when mature. We don’t get to see this activity but the soil is filled with the fungal filaments that are key to many plants getting the minerals and nutrients from the soil that are essential. In return the plant provides the fungus with carbon.
The point of this is that people should not try to dig up lady’s slippers to take home. First it is bad form. Second, it rarely is successful unless being replanted in just the exact right soil with the correct fungus present. The fungus rarely travels with the dug up plant.
Well, sorry for the long-winded monologue. People generally do not understand this and the poor plants disappear and usually die. I don’t imagine my little diatribe will make much of a difference but maybe someone will see it and not dig one up. 🙂
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Steve, this is excellent and I think you should step out of the box a bit. Every post does not need to have a marvelous photograph. You write very well so why not write about a few things that you care about?
I think this is worthy of a post. What you have written is important and no one will see what you have written in the reply to me . Maybe there is the rare exception but this could make a nice post accompanied with a lady slipper photo.
Nothiing should be dug from the wild unless the habitat is going to be destroyed for certain. In the case of plants that are symbiotic a “real” plant person should be the one/s to dig and then all conditions must be met. Those delicate plants can be moved to a like area such as a national or state park or national forest. That is how it is done properly.
I have dug from the wild but only on land that was about to be destroyed. This was a prairie and I was able to move some grasses that I planted on my own prairie restoration. It was a lot of work but evrything lived. The prairie was pristine and had never been touched. No organization would step in to save that 30 acres. It was turned into a concrete car lot with huge buildings. It all made me sick and it took me awhile to get past the loss. Sorry to have gone off the rail here again.
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Thanks for the further comments, Yvonne. Going off the rail is encouraged. 🙂 I will try to do more posts that are about more than nice pictures. Thanks for the encouragement.
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Ok then. Sounds really good. I forgot to add that I think you write extremely well. Your words flow and the sentences all meld to hold one’s interest. Never short change youself as far as writing goes. I think you have a natural knack. 🙂
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Thanks for the vote of confidence, Yvonne. 🙂
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I like the final image Steve. It gives a sense of scale and environment. And I found the response to Yvonne interesting too.
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Thnaks, Andrew.
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The “Shy Lady” is beautiful and I’m also very fond of the first white one. Interestingly, I have only seen yellow Lady’s slippers over here.
I agree with the other posters that pointing out the importance of not digging out plants is a good thing and very much worth mentioning. People have to become aware – some simply don’t know! I have seen quite a few people picking orchids 😮 not knowing that they are protected. They can’t be blamed but educated.
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Thanks, Sandra. I will consider doing a post on the protection of wild plants.
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Steve, first may I apologise for being ‘off grid’ for a while. This is why I haven’t visited your blog or anyone else’s for a while. I’m now back!
As always your photos are gorgeous and it was very interesting what you wrote to Yvonne in the comments about the fungus etc. I agree, maybe you could do a post about the fragility of nature or some such? I shall try to catch up with all the posts that I’ve missed soon. Hope all good with you and yours. Lottie 🙂
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Thanks for the nice comments, Lottie. I was comcerned with your absence and am glad you are back. I hope what had you absent was pleasure and not anything of serious nature.
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Ladyslippers, my favorite. We have only one kind (yellow) and it is very rare and protected. I will not go there this year, 400 km, so I can only enjoy yours, which was a great pleasure. Very nice photos, Steve. I also like the more documentary one..
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Thanks Bente. Lady’s Slippers are a favorite for me also just a half step behind Painted Trilliums. We also have the yellow variety although not nearly as prolific locally.
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I loved the comment about many ladies slippers at home! I’ll join the queue about the picking and destruction of wild plants. At the lake, one year, we found a beautiful plant we had never seen before. When we came back a few hours later there was a hole where the plant had been. Of course we have never seen one like it again – except in a field-guide.
We have often wondered how this one got there. Was it seed dropped by a bird – or carried by an animal. Clearly nature had found a suitable place. When we go past that spot we often remember our short-lived meeting. Great post. Good thoughts from Yvonne and others. And some do read the replies to comments – especially when they don’t get to a post early 🙂
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Thanks Rod and your comments are welcomed at any and all times. :-).
What was this plant you are talking about? Was it a Lady’s Slipper or some other wonder?
There are so many ways plants spread…birds, wind, crawling about. When you think of it, that they are successful is amazing and especially those that put forth a small number of seeds. A multitude is often required for just a handful of successful progeny to survive. Great numbers and small odds in many cases.
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Such lovely Ladies Slippers, Steve, a beautiful name and description too, a gorgeous flowering Plant, looking so fragile, and something to be protected. I read all the other comments and the symbiotic relationship between the fungus and flowering plant is fascinating, making you wonder how many wild flowers/plants are lost by people taking without thinking of the consequences. We have wild Cowsllps which are protected but people still dig them up and transplant. Who polices the policies? No-one, but surely common sense should prevail. I shall keep a lookout for the water filled next post, love water being British, ‘cos if you don’t you soon get a good drenching 😉 (’tis Wimbledon fortnight too, so sure to be rained on ) xPenx
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Thank you, Pen. They can be very fragile and the stems are easily broken. I think a good many wild plants are purloined by folks wanting a bit of the wild in their yards. It is understandable but generally unwise to just dig them up. We have the New England Wildflower Society in Massachusetts that has a wild native plant farm a few towns from here. If we really want some trillium or lady’s slippers we can purchase them from the grower which is a much better way. But I would rather wait each year then find them either in old familiar places or happen upon some new acquaintances in surprise. 🙂
Ah, Wimbledon…the surest cure for a drought. 🙂
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Very nice series, Stephen. Flowers are hard to do well, in my opinion, and you have, especially the second one.
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Thank you, David. I guess it is all in one’s perspective. Photographing flowers seems very natural to me compared with other subjects.
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My husband and I have a summer cottage in the lakes region of western Maine and we have lady’s slippers growing on our property but they grow on a step hill that is almost impossible to climb to photograph. Enjoyed your photos.
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Thanks, Karen. What a privilege to own lady’s slippers. Almost….sounds like a challenge. 🙂
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