We call them Lady slippers, what do you ....

[Steve_Miller]

Well, those are new ones to me. Thank you Steve and Mark for posting pictures. Steve, in your second picture, one of the bloom pods on the right seems to have a hard shell. Is this a seed pod that forms as the blooms age?

My wife and I love wildflowers. On our recent 5000 mile trip, we took almost as many pictures of flowers as anything else. I may try to identify more of them and post a thread about flowers alongside the highway. When I get time....

That pod is some other plant that has come and gone and not related to the slippers.

The best display of flowers that I remember seeing were in Juneau, Alaska at Glacier Gardens Rainforest when we were ther in 2006. The flowers (along with all the other scenery) were amazing and it was only June when we were there. Sorry for the extra pictures but I was going through them and just had to post a couple of others. The first is at Glacier Gardens, they dug out the dead stumps and turned them upside down and put plants in them. The second was in the open air greenhouse, the third was flying back from Anchorage to Vancouver and the last was sailing out of Sitka, Alaska at sunset looking back at the dormant volcano.

Steve

 

[Egon]

My wife and I love wildflowers. On our recent 5000 mile trip, we took almost as many pictures of flowers as anything else.

Try Glacier National park in Alberta in late June for wildflowers.

The Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC. is a pretty awesome flower place too.
butchart gardens - Google Search

Some 130 acres of Estate than can take a few days to see properly.

 

[dave1949]

They are known as Lady's Slippers here too. I have a few growing on my lot. Had a good number at our previous place too which was white pine and red oak on acidic yellowish/red sand between the granite ledge .

They don't mind poor soil or partial shade, not sure they do well in full sun, but your pic looks pretty sunny. They don't hold up well to much disturbance. They seem to do well in areas where I cut out sapplings and leave larger trees standing.
Dave.

 

[wjoerob]

My folks told me the names of a lot of plants in the woods when we went mushroom hunting here in Indiana. They come back to me when I go out these days: Indian moccasins, kitten's britches, Mayflowers, etc. Mom said she could smell the mushrooms growing. The definition of a real Hoosier: someone who dribbles a basketball around the 500 mile track while hunting for mushrooms.

 

[Travelover]

Here in Georgia they are called Lady Slippers or Pink Lady Slipper Orchids. They are a protected species here. From what I read they are protected to prevent people from trying to transplant them. They will rarely last for more than a year or two after transplanting. The soil needs a fungal condition for them to grow. They are also a plant that lives for many years and doesn't bloom for its first 5 or 6 years.

Thats a real nice stand you have.

MarkV

This is true about transplanting them. I tried to save some from a construction site and even though I took generous soil with them to try to capture the necessary fungus, they died the second year.

 

[MarkV]

This is true about transplanting them. I tried to save some from a construction site and even though I took generous soil with them to try to capture the necessary fungus, they died the second year.

I have a good many of them on my property. A local friend, in her 80's, that has been a garden guru for many years got all excited. That led me to do some reading and the fungus conditions seems to be what makes them generally non transplantable and why they ended up protected.

I find it a bit funny because she will not tell anyone they are here and insists I don't either. She has traveled the world to look at wild flowers and is very knowledgeable. Leaves me with a vision of senior flower lovers crawling through my woods in camouflage.:laughing:

MarkV

 

[Steve_Miller]

Found a white one when I was out tonight.

Steve

 

[jimmyj]

Beautiful. Wish we had some on our property.