"A walk through the woods last week... wildflowers that like hot, dry conditions. ... native wildflowers blooming throughout the arboretums woods...
two species of orchids ladies tresses flowering in the grass and cranefly orchids along the trails... these orchids flowering in the arboretum for years... their timing. They appear to relish the drought and heat. Both of these orchid species are tricky to keep track of because their leaves persist in the winter, wither in late spring and by the time the flower spikes emerge from the soil in summer, disappear altogether. This habit has caused a great deal of angst regarding the timing of our mowing. The ladies tresses habitat is a rather public grassy area, and... dont want to mow down emerging flower spikes. One year... tried marking their leaves in the winter so... could mow around them in summer... settled on refraining from mowing from July 4 until the seedpods have ripened and the seeds released. The woods-dwelling cranefly orchid pops up along the trail edges in dry pine and hardwood areas... their deeply pleated green leaves with purple undersides look stunning on the forest floor in the winter months. This orchids stem is the color of a fallen leaf and its flowers are so tiny that the plant is easily overlooked. The curious aspect of this flower is its spur, or nectary, which is five times longer than the flower itself. Im interested to see the proboscis of the insect that pollinates this tiny orchid." URL : http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20070813/NEWS/70813006/-1/NEWS03 *************** Regards, VB _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
