Pink

 The Showy Lady Slippers are blooming. They are Minnesota's State flower. 

We enjoy seeing them in the wild.  One area where there were many blooms has been mowed down....they should have waited a few weeks to make their ditch lawn like. 

Far Side

Blooms

 The Minnesota State Flower the Showy Lady's Slipper is in full bloom. 

Such a beautiful flower.

We enjoy seeing them in the wild.  In this area you could see them way far back into the woods. 

I mowed the yard again, Far Guy picked up twigs and did some trimming around trees.  It was a chilly, windy day.  It didn't make 70 F all day. 

Far Side

Lady's Slippers

The Minnesota State flower is in full bloom.  We went for a ride to see a spot where the ditch was full of the beauties.

They always bloom around Father's Day.

Such beauty alongside the road.  These plants are native to Minnesota.

Back at home we have three Yellow Lady's Slippers blooming along the driveway. 

There are three blooms so far this year.  We have marked the spot with pink flags and are trying to keep the brush and the Poison Ivy under control in their area.  Far Guy clipped back all the brush with his long handled clipper.

Far Side

Lady’s Slippers

The Lady’s Slippers are blooming right on time.  Father’s Day to July 1st is their time.

Along our driveway the Yellow Lady’s Slipper ( Cypripedium parviflorum) is blooming.  There are five blooms this year, most are in the heavy brush/poison ivy.  This one is near the road.  Sadly another plant in that area succumbed to my Poison Ivy Spray.  Sometimes I am a bit agressive with that spray in my attempts to rid of the woods of Poison Ivy…thirty lashes with a wet noodle for me.

This is the second year that our Yellow Slippers over in the wildflower gardens have not bloomed…lots of foliage but no blooms.

The Minnesota State Flower is also in bloom.  Showy Lady’s Slipper or Cypripedium reginae.

These are over on Ashley’s Road.  The clumps there seem to get larger every year.

We are fortunate to live in an area where the Native Wildflowers are found along many of the roads and highways.

Projects

This week I have some cards on my desk. 

I got a new stamp.  Ordered it off the Internet.

It makes a lovely card.

I love my Prismacolor pencils…and my metallic watercolors and my Spica markers! Fun stuff to work with.  I got some new Metallic Colored Pencils…they are pretty cool too.

Here is the other painting project. It is for a friend…Far Guy is trading it for a bunch of dental bits that he can use in his Dremel tool.

Yesterday I got three more kitchen drawers/cabinets cleaned…11 out of 28 are done.  Progress is slow.

It is cold here…bitterly cold…damp…it snowed and blew over the roads and made the roads icy last night coming home from Bingo with my Dad…he got to holler Bingo just once…me not at all.  One away …one away…

Showy Lady’s Slippers

Just like clockwork the Minnesota State Flower appears near Father’s Day every June.

They are beautiful! I look forward to seeing them in bloom every June.

There are many buds, and the weather has turned rainy and cool so we may have a longer Lady Slipper season than normal.

Some seem as if they are marching along with an escort.

Quiet Day

Friday was a quiet day spent at home, working on projects and going for a drive in the evening.

I saw a Mayfly on the window screen. 

Such a dainty bug.

On our drive we saw Showy Lady’s Slippers that are coming to an end.

Not nearly as pretty as they are in bud.

The small farmers are haying.

Makes for some slow traffic in our neighborhood.

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.

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

 

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

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.

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.

 

Slippers

Not the kind you put on your feet.  The flower kind.

The Lesser Yellow Lady’s Slippers are coming to an end.  I have seen more of these than any other year in our area of Minnesota.  The conditions and spring weather must have been just perfect.

Nine was the most I found in a clump.   The Lesser Yellows are about 1/3 the size of the regular yellows…which are not blooming yet.

The Minnesota State Flower is just beginning to bloom.  We saw them over at Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge on Tuesday evening.

The Showy Lady’s Slipper or Cypripedium reginae.

I am certain that you will see more of these on this blog before their bloom season is over.

Many plants are just heavy in bud.

First Day of Summer

The first day of summer brought us some warm temperatures.  The high was 82 F or 27 C eh!  It was mostly sunny.  I did some odd jobs outside before company arrived.

Jen, Andy and Adam came to visit and take us out for an early supper.  Before that we went over to our old resort just down the road to identify a  smelly weed for Dave and admire the Showy Lady’s Slippers.

Years ago, probably in 1987 Far Guy noticed two Lady’s Slippers coming up on both sides of a log in the back yard at the resort.   Of course we moved the log and put a fence around the Lady’s Slippers. We have continued to admire them throughout the years.

A couple of buds. Note how hairy the foliage is…some people break out in a rash kinda like poison ivy after touching the foliage.

There are so many of them it is hard to get a photo of just one flower.

I counted at least sixty flowers/buds…and I know I missed a few.

Dave’s weed that is a bit smelly is Creeping Charlie and there is nothing much that contains/controls it.  I also looked at his Apple Trees (Haralred) and a row of Nanking Cherries that he is growing for the birds.  The Cherries are sparse but I saw a few apples starting to form even though Haralred is self sterile and needs a pollinator.  As far as I know there are no Flowering Crapapples or Apple Trees in the immediate area for cross pollination.

Happy first day of summer!

Showy Lady’s Slippers

The Minnesota State Flower is an orchid called the Showy Lady’s Slipper or Cypripedium reginae.  Of course I knew where to find just a few.

These are on the west side of Shell Lake.

There are many along other roads where it is either dusty or they have mowed them off already, some are in such traffic heavy areas taking photos is out of the question.

Where we were last evening only one car came speeding by.

Update on the White Lady’s Slipper that Jo and I found a few years ago.  The deer have eaten them off again.

Buggers anyway.  The white ones grow a bit taller than the Showy Lady’s Slippers and they must be real tasty.

Far Guy had a Neurologist appointment in Fargo yesterday, we got up early to go and were home by 11 AM.  I made us eggs ( farm fresh from friends of my other baby brother) and bacon after I cleaned up the kitchen I had a four hour nap.

The appointment went fine…although some equilibrium problems were noticed hopefully it is from his “crud” or some fluid on his ears. 

The Lady’s Slipper

Minnesota has forty-two different kind of native orchids.  Two kinds are in bloom this week.  A week ahead of schedule. Usually they bloom Father’s Day weekend.

First the yellow Lady’s Slippers along the back drive bloomed.  Seven of them are blooming this year.

This gal is one of my favorite plants..yellow and beautiful.  Note she is all nestled up to a bunch of poison ivy.

We went to a flea market yesterday…along the way back we stopped in the rain to get a few photos.  The Showy Lady’s Slippers are in bloom.  This is the State flower of Minnesota.

They grow wild in the road side ditches.

It sure didn’t rain very much. The dry weather may have forced the Lady’s Slippers to bloom earlier than normal. Typical plant reaction..stress them and they bloom.. so they have their last hurrah before croaking.

We walked Chance through the Flea Market..he was a pill..barking at a little puppy.  He likes other dogs if he knows them..but if he doesn’t know them then he pretends to be a rough and tough I am bigger than you Border Collie ruff ruff. What a turd.

Far Guy bought a old station wagon toy car..most likely for his train set.  I bought nothing..I priced a few thing for the museum..like wire dress forms.  Uffda they are expensive.

It was a nice day off spent with my boys:)

The Showy Lady’s Slipper

It was Fathers Day, so the Showy Lady’s Slipper that are the Minnesota State Flower are beginning to bloom.  They will bloom about two weeks, give or take, depending on wind, the rain and the temperatures.

I got a heads up from Phyllis a faithful blog reader and friend and from my cousin Geraldine.  We found these blooming in a ditch about eight miles south of us.

 

One of these evenings we will head out to see how the rare white ones did this year.  Last year they were deer food before they even opened. I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that the deer have not found them this year.

These Lady’s Slippers are part of the Orchid Family and are native to Minnesota throughout the entire state except for the southwestern part of the state..it must be too rocky there. They like wet swamps and moist woods that get some sun. It is a very slow growing plant and from seed to bloom can take 15 to 20 years.

Our Yellow Lady’s Slippers on the back drive have begun blooming too, I will get a photo or two or ten tomorrow:)

Wildflowers: June 10, 2010

Minnesota's State flower or Cypripedium reginae or the Showy Lady's Slipper are beginning to bloom. This is at least a week earlier than most years. We were at the neighbors and they said..take some photos of our Lady  Slippers....so I did.  These are the first ones that we have found in complete bloom, they do have a sunny spot, there was lots of PI(Poison Ivy) in the area..so it was difficult to get close..they keep hollering at me the entire time "Hey Con, watch out for the Poison Ivy." .. helpful neighbors.  Far Guy was of no help, he hollered ""Hey Con, watch out!"  watch out for what..I am half in and out of a sswamp...there is PI and who knowsss what elsssse.  I have seen ssssnakes at this place before, Chance is in the car and Tackle Box is off begging for food from one of the guests, and I do not have my magic red snake repelling boots on.

The Showy Lady's Slippers can be found in our area in the ditches and at the edge of swamps from now through the end of June unless it gets real warm..then they will fade fast. This is just one of my favorite Orchids that are native to Minnesota.

MY garage has been cleaned out in preparation for a garage sale,  the "stuff" is marked and I am ready to make my fortune in the next day or two..I have a great group of gals that are going to join me..we are all going to sell off "stuff" that we no longer use..they have some pretty good "stuff" too as I have already purchased some of it.  Far Guy is dragging his heels, every time I enter his garage and say "Doncha have something over here in this huge mess that you want to sell?"  he gives me one item at a time to dust off and put a price tag on.  Today I suppose he will lock all his doors:)

Minnesota State Flower

The Minnesota State Flower is the Showy Lady's Slipper. It is a native plant. It's scientific name is Cypripedium reginae and it is in the Orchid family. This is the week to look for them along the ditches in our area. They usually begin blooming around Father's Day. Far Guy and I await these blooms every year, for us it marks the beginning of Summer in Minnesota, Father's Day and of things discovered quite by accident, things lost and found again.

Last week one day I sent Far Guy into a ditch to photograph some Indian Paintbrush for me, traffic was terrible, and it was quite a hike from a safe area to pull over. Usually I wear long pants, and my hiking boots when wandering around in the ditches, and that day I was wearing capris and crocs..very inappropriate for walking in a ditch that probably has Wood Ticks and Poison Ivy and who knows what else. Far Guy really likes Indian Paintbrush and he never wears capris or crocs ..so I sent him in alone. He took forever, and seemed to be spending a lot of time away from the Indian Paintbush. I will have to go back, because he only got one good photo...

Indian Paintbrush or Castilleja coccinea

This is what had captured his attention..and he only got one good photo. I should give him some camera lessons! The Lady Slippers were beginning to bloom on the north side of the road!

The Minnesota State Flower, The Showy Lady's Slipper

Years ago when we first bought the Resort, we stacked up all the logs from the trees that had been uprooted from a tornado, we stacked them in back of the house. The next spring there were still a few logs back there, Far Guy was mowing the grass when he started hollering "Come see this, you are never gonna believe it!!" What he found was a Showy Lady Slipper in bloom, it came up in the lawn and was struggling to bloom on both sides of a log. Former resort owners had been mowing it over for years. Far Guy built a little fence around them. Years later some idiot removed the fence, when Dave bought the place, and was tearing down most of the buildings, he asked us to try and locate them for him. I knew exactly where they were, Far Guy said "Are you sure this is the exact spot?" I was pretty sure, if not exact, really close. We marked the spot and they were saved. It has become quite a clump over the years. Saturday evening we went over to take some photographs. Dave has them surrounded by chicken wire and fence posts, which makes them difficult to photograph, but I tried my best!

I will have to do some serious ditch walking this week, there is nothing like seeing these beautiful plants blooming in the wild :)