Pink Lady's Slippers

Pink lady slipper orchids are blooming in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Click to enlarge. 

I made my annual pilgrimage this week to see them, but arrived a few days early. They were up but not yet proudly displaying their pink pouches. 

Just cute, green, baby lady slippers. I went back later in the week...

And look at them now! The pink lady slipper is a lovely wild orchid native to the Eastern United States and among the earliest blooming NJ Pine Barres orchids. 

 They take a long time to grow from seed to flower and require special conditions that include a relationship with soil fungus. Once established, they bloom yearly and may live for 20 years. 

My Orchid Trophies

Now that summer has settled into the dog days, I'm reminiscing about all the cool spring afternoons I spent hunting for orchids in the New Jersey pine barrens. I found all four of the flashy pink ones that I had hoped to see this year by scouring the edges of bogs like the one pictured above. The photos are my trophies. Click to enlarge.

This is the dragon's mouth orchid, Arethusa bulbosa. I took this picture in mid-May.

These are pink lady's slippers, Cypripedium acaule. Also seen in May.

These are rose pogonias, Pogonia ophioglossoides. This picture reminds me of these words from Confucius:  "An orchid in a deep forest sends out its fragrance even if no one is around to appreciate it." This picture is from June.

Here's a closer look at the rose pogonia, also called the snake mouth orchid.

This is the complex and beautiful grass pink,
Calopogon tuberosus. Another June bloomer.

I am resting on my orchid laurels inside in air-conditioned comfort today. Are they not lovely?