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 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

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.

Wistful Wednesday: 1989 to 2015

Whilst going through a old photo album, I found a polaroid photo that Far Guy’s Dad took of the Showy Ladys Slippers back in 1989.  The Ladys Slippers were found blooming on both sides of a log in the yard back behind the house at the resort.

Looks like about six blooms 26 years ago.

2015 Showy Ladys Slippers

You can see how the clump has progressed from 2 blooms in 1987 to what it looked like this year.

This is what is possible if wildflowers are left alone and allowed to grow. 

This June when we went by the hill over at Snellman Minnesota, I commented that there seemed to be less Ladys Slippers…someone said that the hillside was pockmarked with holes.  It is illegal to dig wildflowers from the roadway, BUT some people still do it…the bums.

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. 

Warm

It was warm yesterday 86 F or 30 C .  And humid.  We were invited to the neighbors for supper.  Another night of no cooking. Yay!  Pork burgers and potato salad yum!! 

The Smoky Hills were real smoky..when humidity hangs in the air they take on a smoky appearance. 

We saw a deer.  If she had a fawn it was well hidden.

We heard from a fellow woodcarver today that she had a double Lady’s Slipper near the end of her drive.

I took some photos of it as a reference just incase we want to carve a double.  Far Guy is still carving single Lady’s Slippers, he carves them to donate to silent auctions at local benefits.

What I look for is how the one stem splits off to make two smaller leaves and then two flower buds.  It might not seem like a big deal but woodcarvers are a meticulous bunch. As you can see the flowers are coming to an end in the warm weather.

I managed to find an almost perfect single.   This one might be notecard worthy:)

The Hunt

The Snellman hill is looking pretty good, we didn't stop there, there is only one driveway and one approach. The traffic is horrendous but there are Slippers all up and down the hillside. It is nearing full bloom. I may go back, when I feel braver.

We stopped just east of there at a safer location, where there is a whole bunch of Slippers. This of course is on the same "Scenic Byway" where no thought was put into the natural wonders of the Showy Lady's Slippers, there could have been some turnouts along this road, some place of safety for people to stop, but everything scenic along this road is supposed to be viewed at 55 plus mph.

Deer Damage

We took off to the double secret place to check on the rare White Lady's Slippers, what we found was sad. The deer have been through this entire area munching away. We will have to wait a few days and go back and see if any of them survived being a salad bar. I was greatly disappointed, Mother Nature is sometimes a fickle friend.

I did see a deer, it may be totally inappropriate to think that every click of the shutter is a bullet headed their way. Minnesota needs to do something about the exploding deer population, they are already a health hazard with all the tick born diseases and then to top it all off they are eating the Slippers as a snack. Darn deer anyway.

 I was thankful for the Slippers that we found untouched by deer or humans.  The hunt continues:)