Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Lady’s Slippers 75 and counting

Dave invited us down to see the Lady’s Slippers.  He lives on the property that we used to own…Pine Springs Resort…it is no longer a resort but a private home.

Far Guy found these Lady Slippers in June way back in about 1987, there were two blooms that year, peaking up around a log on the log pile.

Lady Slippers at the old resort

We built a fence to protect them and from then on we have enjoyed seeing the clump get larger and larger.

Lady Slipper clump June 20 2016

 

I counted at least 75 blooms this year.  2 blooms that first year and 29 years later there are over 75…amazing!

Lady Slippers June 20 2016

They are just beautiful!  Her real name is Cypripedium reginae or Showy Lady’s Slipper the State Flower of Minnesota.

Here is one view of the lake.

Lake View

I kinda miss living on the lake, Far Guy does not.  We met many wonderful people from all walks of life and it was a good place to raise teenage girls.  Neither of us miss cleaning  cottages, and Far Guy doesn’t miss the 90 mile one way compute to work.  He commuted daily for just about ten years.

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29 comments:

Tom said...

quite spectacular

Country Gal said...

Lovely . In future we want to be closer to our lake Erie to live even though it is just a 6 min drive away now but to wake this time of year and go out to see the waters and smell the fresh air that's perfect just with we could pick up our Country Cove property here and move it down to the beach lol ! Lovely photos I am glad they are still blooming after all these years . Thanks for sharing , Have a good day !

Primitive Stars said...

Morning, those Lady Slippers are so beautiful, glad they are protected....love the view of the lake, so pretty. Blessings Francine.

linda m said...

The Lady Slippers are so awesome. Wish I had them growing in my yard. The view of the lake is gorgeous.

Still the Lucky Few said...

One of the most beautifully formed flowers ever! The colors are so delicate. Nature really outdid herself when she designed the Lady Slipper!

Sam I Am...... said...

Those are so pretty and 75? Wow! That's wonderful! thank you for the picture as I have never seen that many at once...ever! The lake is beautiful. It's too bad you couldn't have stayed and retired there. I understand about the 90 mile commute! One way? Daily? I did that several times, once to Iowa for 6 months but stayed there during the week and came how on Friday night and left Sunday afternoon. Then I did some consulting in Chicago and we lived in Rockford, IL and it was 3 hours in and 3 hours out...I left at 5:00 a.m. and got home at 9:00....needless to say I missed the entire summer! Keeping a resort sounds wonderful but I know it is a lot of hard work!

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

Oh wow! The flowers are gorgeous and how neat that they have been protected and are thriving! I don't know if I could handle a 90 minute one way drive to work...it sounds pretty tiring. I would love the view of the lake every morning though.

DJan said...

To me they will always be YOUR flower. And to have helped them propagate like that! Wonderful. Glad FG doesn't need to commute any more. :-)

Phyllis Pritchard said...

They are so beautiful, I just love lady slippers.

MTWaggin said...

What a pretty place. Makes me sigh to see the lake photo. The lady slippers -well those are just astounding!

Mac n' Janet said...

Beautiful view of the lake I can see why you would miss it. But a 90 mile commute one way would drive me crazy.

Terry and Linda said...

LOVE your state flower! Just LOVE it!

Linda

Paula said...

WOW! 90 mile commute. And that is just one way?? Doing if for 10 years?? I'm impressed. But living on the lake would make it worthwhile. Except for cleaning those cottages everyday:) Those flowers are beautiful. Do they grow wild?

Linda W. said...

What lovely flowers! Nice pics of the blooms.

Far Side of Fifty said...

Yes the flowers are native plants and they grow wild. It takes about 20 years for the seed to grow.:)

Anonymous said...

We have the best State Flower, don't we? What a wonderful thing you did by putting up a fence to protect them. What a fabulous patch of Lady Slippers. Do they have a scent?

Lynn Hasty said...

That is awesome! Good for you for protecting them!
xo
Lynn

Tired Teacher said...

Gorgeous display for the new summer season!

Anonymous said...

The lady slippers are beautiful and so many of them too. Thanks to you for protecting them so well. I don't know how Far Guy survived that 90 mile commute for 10 years. Hero!

Shirley H.

Rita said...

Nice to see the lady slippers are still there!
I wouldn't miss that commute, either! ;)

Red said...

These lady slippers are very showy and attractive. good that you helped these survive.

Far Side of Fifty said...

No no scent and the bees have to go inside the slipper to collect pollen and then find heir way out again...so it is a wonder there are any at all...plus the 20 year seed to bloom time:(

Anonymous said...

Thanks for taking the time to answer my question! Oh...I forgot to mention earlier that I did the math on FG's commute: 90 miles one way x 2 for the round trip x 365 days per year x 10 years = 657,000 miles!!!

Anonymous said...

The blooms are just so pretty. Amazing to see how they have multiplied.

Granny Marigold said...

Those blooms are so beautiful and I am amazed that it takes that long for the seeds to germinate!!!

Linda said...

They're beautiful. On my bucket list to see up close and personal.

L. D. said...

Your lake scene reminds me of the one we saw on Lake Pokegama. Pink lady slippers are my favorite to see. Our neighbors let us see a patch once next to the road that went in to the cabins. We were treated like we would act like a bunch of Iowa pig farmers and tromp them all down. Anyway we both took photos and both did wonderful paintings of them. That was the one and only time I saw them in real time. That is why I always enjoy seeing you shots of them to remember my neighbors and how they behaved. I am over with that now, don't you think?

Shirley said...

Those are really pretty flowers.
90 mile commute? Yeah, I bet he doesn't miss that!

Linda Reeder said...

Those lady slippers are part of your legacy. So wonderful.