BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!

Subject: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 13 May 04 - 07:50 AM

It MUST be spring -- even in New England.

I just came back from taking the bagged trash to the road for collection and counted 21 pink ladyslippers on the uphill bank of the driveway. Some of them aren't quite "ripe" yet, and there probably will be a few more forming, so we don't know what this year's total will be yet. Usually between 12 and 36.

They're surrounded by star flower, foam flower and false lily-of-the-valley (and one REAL lily-of-the-valley that migrated uphill from the turnaround).

They've been part of the excuse for our sometimes annual Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend "Tune It Or Die" Party and Ladyslipper Festival, which we haven't had for a couple years because I've been in Milwaukee at the time and couldn't let Tom have a party without me. This year it's probably a little too close to Tom's surgery, so we'll have to figure out when we can have one.

The ladyslippers are a real treat and bring so much joy this time of year. Makes up for the fact that when they paved the road about 15 years ago, they blew up a rock that had a swarm of ladyslippers growing on it. Besides our patch, I haven't found any more ladyslipper outcroppings on the road.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: Janie
Date: 13 May 04 - 08:23 AM

Lucky Woman!

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 13 May 04 - 08:26 AM

we've got trillium blooming - and the lilacs are finally beginning to bloom

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: el ted
Date: 13 May 04 - 08:38 AM

My concrete yard looks as smooth and grey as ever.

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 13 May 04 - 10:17 AM

el ted - maybe you can get some paints & draw your own flowers?

apart from rare (or rare-ish) & beautiful, what's a ladyslipper?

My plants are lovely & green, however my begonia is still flowerless after many months of flowering (I just checked). However a small greenish thing - Peperomia according to it's lable - has what the label calls 'curious long stemed flower spikes produced in warm, humid positions'

I dunno why, it didnt have them on Sunday when I watered it. The humidity is long gone & the days aren't very warm now as we're in autumn & heading for what we call winter here.

another of Life's Little Mysteries.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: SINSULL
Date: 13 May 04 - 10:34 AM

I am beginning to think that my lilacs will never bloom. The waiting is torture.

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 May 04 - 11:36 AM

I have lilacs (two shades!), tulips, irises (irisii?), bleeding hearts, grape hyacinths -- and snow!

Yes! The four-letter s-word! (Please don't be offended.)

Snow! There was 2 inches just a bit southwest of here. There is enough in the mountains to make them white! Heavy, wet snow!

Hot dog! Snow! We need the moisture, and I'll raise my tomatoes and forget-me-nots inside this year if need be!


And this morning, in the snow, one lonely golfer was out....

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: GUEST,bbc at work
Date: 13 May 04 - 11:57 AM

Linn,

Thanks for mentioning the lady slippers; I love them! Grew up w/ them in Massachusetts. I assume you mean the pink ones, not the yellow? Lilac's out in my part of New York, as is my apple tree. I love the springtime!

bbc

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 13 May 04 - 04:04 PM

Sandra in Sydney -- ladyslippers (in my case, pink ladyslippers) are a wild orchid that love the high acid soil under our New Hampshire pine trees. There are a couple other varieties -- yellow ladyslippers and showy ladyslippers -- but the only kind we seem to have around here are pink ones. They're protected because they don't transplant well -- they have a very long taproot and definite ideas about not only what kind of soil they demand, but the exact dappling of the light, etc. I also heard they require naive bees to pollinate them. Naive because there's nothing there for the little buggers. They check out one, find nothing, and then check out another to discover the same thing, but in the meantime, pollinate the flower.

Pictures and more at
Pink Ladyslipper

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 13 May 04 - 06:36 PM

After I read your first post, Linn, I took New-to-me dog Rosie into the woods the see if the ladyslipper are here. More trilliums (trillia? the wake-robin variety) than I can count, but no ladyslippers as yet.

Nelson is about 1 week behind nearby Keene; it's strange to travel back and forth every day.

Allison

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 13 May 04 - 07:27 PM

We used to have painted trilliums in the woods down the road, but haven't seen them for some years.

Of course, it's usually still too wet (with the air full of black flies) to investigate too far.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: ranger1
Date: 13 May 04 - 07:40 PM

Ah, you should all come to beautiful Wolfe's Neck Woods State Park in Freeport, Maine. We have HUNDREDS of them! Not yet, but in about two weeks there will be too many to count. We have the pink ones, as well as some white ones (albino forms of the pink ones). Right now, we've got the last of the mayflowers, some trout lilies and violets; the hobblebush, wind flowers, wild lily-of-the-valley, blue-bead lily and goldthread are just starting and will be out in full force at the same time as the ladyslippers. Identify yourself as a mudcatter, and I'll give you the wildflower tour! I'm the girl with the badge.

ranger1

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 14 May 04 - 08:54 AM

Bat Goddess - they are beautiful. Thanks for the clicky. I could spend hours there. I sent the link to my neighbour who is a well-known gardener & plantsman (he even grows 200 seeds at a time!). He has filled our little inner-city courtyard with an amazing green jungle.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 14 May 04 - 10:37 AM

Thanks for the reminder of the Ladyslippers. It brings back memories of walks in the woods as a teenager back in Virginia. Finding the occasional Ladyslipper always made the trek more rewarding.

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 14 May 04 - 11:25 AM

Took the mail up to the box this morning and counted again -- another one has "ripened" enough to show its face, so we've got 22. I'm sure there will be a couple more, too.

The thyme from the grave of Professor Child (yeah, that Child -- "Francis James Child / Editor English and Scottish Ballads") is running rampant over our loam pile, too -- gets much bigger every year.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 14 May 04 - 11:26 AM

thyme? no rose, or briar?

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 14 May 04 - 06:22 PM

I've got 15 different flowers out in my garden at the moment, it would be 16 but the cats ate the fritillary.

My aquillegia have flowered for the first time in ages, pink and dark purple granny bonnets. The trees are all in blossom, including the hollies and dogwoods.

I found a pile of bulbs that I'd neglected to plant last autumn, so I just dug a trench and stuck them in late March, hoping they'd just lie dormant and quiet, but they've decided to grow and now I have a very tiny crocus and some beautiful jonquils in a patch that was formerly cat poo.

It was even warm enough to sit out there this evening.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 May 04 - 11:28 PM

Your ladyslippers look very similar to what in Washington State we called a calypso orchid (Calypso bulbosa). Here's a real close-up.

Like all orchids, difficult to propagate.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 15 May 04 - 08:22 AM

Difficult to propagate because of the idefinite soil and location preferences, deep tap root, etc. They're protected so clueless souls won't attempt to dig them up and plonk 'em in their garden (to die). Of course, that didn't stop the state & town when they paved part of Priest Road and blew up the rock that jutted into the road on which they lived. Sigh. Had I known their plans I might have attempted a move to a similar location.

A few years back someone donated a bunch to Garden in the Woods down in Framingham, MA -- planted by experts, but they all died.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 15 May 04 - 01:05 PM

Just walked up the driveway -- there are now 24 ladyslippers. At least two of them "aren't ripe" yet, so there's hope of a few more.

What a glorious day!

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 16 May 04 - 09:33 AM

Had our first major electrical storm last night (on the way home from the shanty sing -- driving was, uh, less than optimal) and a torrential downpour. Right now it's raining, so I haven't checked to see how beaten down the ladyslippers are (if at all).

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 May 04 - 01:07 PM

Linn,

Over in the "I Read it in the Newspaper" thread I posted this link to an article about a woman who grew orchids and wrote The Book on the subject.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 17 May 04 - 08:07 PM

Well, I was showing the ladyslippers to the Visiting Nurse who came to offer aid and succor to Tom this afternoon (also gave her a variety of sedum she didn't have) and we counted one more -- so we're up to 25. She spotted one that isn't entirely ripe yet. (They don't turn pink immediately.)

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: pdq
Date: 17 May 04 - 08:29 PM

"21 Ladyslippers So Far!"

Is this a new movie about Imelda Marcos?

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 May 04 - 12:28 AM

If it is, then Imelda is three shoes short of a dozen pair. ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: el ted
Date: 18 May 04 - 11:08 AM

My concrete yard is looking very shiny and bright in the afternoon sunshine. Maintenance free, smashing!

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: Mr Red
Date: 18 May 04 - 04:35 PM

you be lucky there el ted - my slabs have weeds rampant this year - I need to zap 'em every few days.

Mind you the rain has produced a bumper crop of four-leaf clovers, 100 this month and the season usually goes to mid June before it quietens down.

Am I lucky? Well I ain't fallen dead yet. No lottery win, crap job, policemen all look young (especially the Chief Inspectors), but I am still ticking.

Subject: RE: BS: 21 Ladyslippers So Far!
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 18 May 04 - 06:00 PM

Hey, crap job is better than no job -- I'm collecting $58.00 a week unemployment while looking for a real full time job with benefits. (If I take a part time gig as I have the past coupla years cuz there's been nothing else available, then I don't have time to find a REAL job.) Fortunately, there's some prospects showing up now. Curmudgeon's upset -- he's out of work due to his recent heart surgery and was told by his surgeon today that he can't drive for another two weeks -- he'd like to get back to work, even part days. (He works with his brain; no barge toting or bale lifting.)

We haven't won the lottery yet, either (not for want of trying), but the hospitals are coming through with assistance on their bills. Let's just call Tom the Quarter-Million-Dollar Man.

Oh, and he's still ticking too -- and, for me, that's one of the most important things in the world.

He's not supposed to walk hills yet, but he walked up the driveway this afternoon to get today's post and admire the ladyslippers.

I was just out pulling weeds and grass from around the irises in one of the back flower beds (and swatting black flies).

What can I trade you, Mr. Red, for one of those four-leaf clovers?

Linn