Thursday, June 02, 2011

Orchidée sauvage

There are several species of wild orchid that grow in the open spaces around the vineyard parcels. A couple of them grow in our back yard as well, but I end up mowing them down (we did move one into a flower bed to get it out of the mower's path). The flowers are multiple on short stalks and the whole plant is usually no more than about six inches tall.

A wild orchid flowering out toward the end of the vineyard road.

In addition to this white one which is flowering right now, there are many purple varieties that flower a little earlier in the spring. I never knew that there were such things as wild orchids, let alone that they would grow in our climate (I thought all orchids were tropical). A naturalist friend of ours introduced us to them, and now we see them everywhere.
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9 comments:

  1. Thickethouse.wordpress02 June, 2011 13:24

    We have wild orchids in the US.The pink Lady's slipper is one I knew, but I was just really surprised on looking it up to discover that we have 59 species of wild orchids in Ohio. I had no idea of that, and I've only seen lady's slipper once in the wild. You are lucky to have them where you can see them!

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  2. Amanda02 June, 2011 14:49

    I never knew there were wild orchids in France until I saw them pictured on blogs.

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  3. Starman02 June, 2011 19:15

    You could use them to outline your vegetables. The guy on his tractor at midnight would definitely annoy me.

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  4. Tim02 June, 2011 20:44

    Walt, your Orchis is Greater Butterfly Orchid [Platanthera chlorantha.] Susan kindly saved me looking it up when she commented on one of my shots on flickr.

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  5. Ron02 June, 2011 23:27

    The pink lady's slipper was my first thought when I saw your whild orchid. Where I used to live in the woods in Pennsylvania, the pink lady's slipper bloomed in abundance. Funny thing though, they were very difficult to transplant. I think orchids take a special kind of soil and temperature to bloom. Your place must be ideal for orchids. Beautiful.

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  6. wcs03 June, 2011 07:26

    kristi, from what I've read, wild orchids are almost everywhere except the polar regions. I never knew.

    nadege, aren't blogs cool?

    starman, it's just part of the country experience! Better than sirens...

    tim, thanks! I know Susan told me what it was, but I'm terrible at remember these things.

    ron, they do tend to grow in places where the ground is slightly damp, but not wet, like in low spots near where streams begin.

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  7. GaynorB03 June, 2011 19:42

    I can see that it is 'almost heaven'!

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  8. islandgirl4ever204 June, 2011 05:59

    Love these! They look so delicate-- This reminds me that we are overdue for a trip to see you guys!
    I hope we can make it over soon... It's already summer time!!

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  9. AleR19 June, 2011 07:46

    Great shot and interesting article.
    Thanks for sharing!

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