Orchids!

Before I forget yet again, I wanted to share pictures of the beautiful orchids we sometimes see around here (if you know where to look for them).  I think of these as orchids of the Bruce Peninsula, but they do grow in secret places along certain roadsides.

This is the Yellow Ladyslipper, a beautiful orchid that is found in swamps and forests, but surprisingly along roadsides sometimes too.  Perhaps my mother's favourite flower.

I first saw these in 1964 when my mother took me as a teenager on a naturalists field trip up the Bruce Peninsula.  I've been going back ever since.

The second one is the Showy Ladyslipper, a little larger, and beautiful pink and white.  It's not as common as the yellow, so you need to know where to look, but you can find it in nature reserves and the National Park on the west side of the Peninsula, and a few cedar swamps around here.

It's nice when you come upon a clump of several like this, though the blooms only stay fresh a few days, so your timing needs to be just right.  Can't find nicer wildflowers than these.