Saturday, March 26, 2016

Western Fairy Slippers on Fidalgo Island


Here's the first orchids of the season.  We were out Thursday, March 24, to a number of different sites on Fidalgo Island, looking for spring wildflowers and for the first Fairy Slippers of the season.  We suspected before we went that they would be blooming since we had seen some of them in bud a couple of weeks earlier and our suspicions were confirmed.  We found them just starting to bloom and even found one white Fairy Slipper among them.

Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis
(Western Fairy Slipper)











Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis fma. nivea
(Western Fairy Slipper, white form)




10 comments:

Unknown said...

Supreme, superb, delightful!

Thelma said...

What a beautiful find.

Ron said...

They care beautiful, aren't they. Thanks for visitng and commenting, Beatriz.

Ron said...

Thanks, Thel. We've seen them in these areas many times before and so we know where to look.

Upupaepops said...

up to my favorite park yesterday and had fairy along with fawn lily as usual; no nivea

Ron said...

There was just one and in the same place we found it last year. If you want to know where I can email you.

Unknown said...

It has begun again! What a joy to see the wildflowers bloom again. Marvelous photos too!

For me the orchid season started extraordinarily early in February with a trip to the Extremadura, a (mostly rural) region in southern Spain.

I was told too, that in southern Germany, 150km from my hometown, our earliest orchid, Ophrys araneola has started to bloom too. I hope, that I can visit it soon.

Spring is such a wonderful time. I hope you had a happy easter!

Ron said...

Hi Martin,
Wish you were here to enjoy the Fairy Slippers. They're putting on a pretty good show this year, as are the other wildflowers, though everything is early.
Spring is indeed wonderful and it is great to be our hiking and orchid hunting again. Still have to come and see some of your orchids.
We are headed for Australia in June and hope to see some orchids there, though orchids are not the main reason for going - Edward is getting married there.

Unknown said...

I wish it wasn't so far to see Fairy Slippers. Even the next Calypsos in Europe are about 2000km away from me. Though in sweden they will appear in about two months. Now they're still snowed in I guess.

As for our orchids: you are invited any time you want. I would be happy to give you a good overview of what blooms in Germany and the neighboring countries.

Australia is a dream for orchid hunters. I have seen presentations on australian orchids in our club. The presenter showed photos of weird plants like the hammer orchid and showy blue sun orchids. Lots and lots of species there.
What an opportunity to be able to get there on such a happy occasion. :-)

Ron said...

You should come to Washington in the spring. I can show you Fairy Slippers to your heart's content and if you come in May I can show you both varieties.

As to Germany, we have a daughter in Northern Ireland, so Germany is not so far away and we have dreams of doing both.