Elegant Colors: Wild and Tame Flowers

Just in case you wondered if you could grow a rhododendron zone 1 or 2, well, here is some evidence that it is possible.  An enthusiastic local gardener has been growing this Finnish rhododendron for a few years.  The blooms this year are lovely.  The Helsinki/Finnish rhododendrons are bred to be hardy in colder weather, though I've even seen them growing in the Japanese garden of my zone 6 hometown.  This one looks most like the cultivar called 'Pohjola's Daughter'.

Finnish rhododendron

"Wildhof" Triumph tulip, still blooming strong in my garden mid-June.

The ubiquitous forest floor plant, Cornus canadensis (bunchberry).

The forest floor is quite pretty at the moment, with the pink ladyslipper orchids, the false Solomon's seal and the white flowers and elegant ridged leaves of the bunchberries (Cornus canadensis).  June 1 to 20 is the best time to see these pretty orchids.  We have many of them growing in the forest behind our house. 

Cypripedum acaule, the pink ladyslipper

Nut Point Wildflowers

We went for a hike on the trail in the Nut Point Provincial Park recently. In case you are not familiar with the area, it is described as boreal forest and includes rocky outcroppings interspersed with small lakes. Peaty bog areas are found in low-lying areas and there is evidence of felled and scorched trees from a fire several years ago. My special interest is stalking the wildflowers and capturing them with my camera (the best kind of hunting). I am not an expert flower photographer, sadly, but here are some of the flowers we found:

Trientalis borealis, growing on a rotten stump:

I don't know what this was and my close-up photos were not in focus. It reminds me of a Pulmonaria (lungwort) with its blue flowers. Like Pulmonaria, the unopened buds are pink.

The pink corydalis (Corydalis sempervirens), growing in the open on a rock face. Labrador tea shrubs (Ledum groenlandicum) carpet vast areas of the rocky terrain. This plant is one of the first to recolonize burned bog areas, which is consistent with its abundance here. Along with Labrador tea, there were thousands of blueberry, lingonberry (aka cranberry), bearberry, and bunchberry plants in bloom.

Of course, there were plenty of pink lady's slippers. These ones were at the trailhead, just outside the Nut Point Campground. These are almost always found in rocky areas, among moss and under dappled shade of spruce trees. Of course, never never dig these flowers up! They are rare and protected and besides, are in a provincial park!

Wild Orchids in Bloom

Cypripedium acaule, the pink lady slipper, is blooming now behind our property. These bunches are prized by our dear elderly neighbour (and eminent La Ronge trading post pioneer), who walked back there one day to show us his "secret" and made us promise not to tell anyone about it (I know that none of you blog-readers will come looking...). Previously, I had only seen the smaller plant groups. This year I went out to the little clearing he had shown us and found some large groups of the lovely flowers. Enjoy the pictures that I took over the past two evenings:

Lady's Slipper Orchids from Near and Far

One of my most prized orchids has bloomed again. The last time Paphiopedilum "Magic McNavy" bloomed was November, 2005. The bloom usually lasts over a month and is very unique, so it is worth the wait. The flowers have a very waxy/greasy appearance, lots of dark hairs, and strange bumps. The description sounds more like an unattractive teenager than a flower somehow. The plant has lots of new growth on it, so maybe the next bloom will have two flower stems.

This particular orchid is described as a slipper orchid because of the tubular shape of the lower lip of the flower. The genus name is derived from Paphos (=a city on Cyprus where a temple to Venus stands) and pedilum (=slipper/sandal). Thus, it essentially means Venus' slipper. It hails from the tropics of the Old World (though I bought it on ebay from a guy in BC!).

Shockingly, we also have lady's slipper orchids growing wild in our back yard! The local pink lady's slipper orchids are of the related genus Cypripedium, species aucale. The picture above was taken in June, 2006. Would you believe the local orchid's Latin name also means Venus' slipper? (Cypris=refers to Venus because Cyprus was Venus' sacred island, pedium=slipper/sandal). Cypripedium was actually named first, by Carl Linnaeus. The Paphiopedilum was named a century later by Heinrich, who essentially copied the idea of naming the flower for a beautiful goddess' footwear.

Wildflowers and native species

I wandered out behind the house this week, braving the thick bog-dwelling mosquitoes to photograph the native flora. The pink ladyslipper orchids [pictured] (Cypripedium acaule) are just past their prime but appear to be thriving. No doubt the blood-sucking bugs reduce the amount of foot-traffic parading over their bed of reindeer lichen.

The wild shrubs such as low-bush blueberry, low-bush cranberry [pictured] (lingonberry, Vaccinium vitis idaea), bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), and Labrador tea are flowering now.

I have planted a Bailey's compact highbush cranberry in the yard (no flowers this year) and there are wild raspberries, pincherries, and Saskatoon berries already growing in the yard. I haven't the patience to pick pincherries, but I do appreciate the pincherry jelly that is made around here. The local berries make for delicious waffle-toppings!

I also have been searching Blogger for other gardening blogs, but haven't yet found many companions into true cold-weather northern gardening (you folks in northern California think you have it rough, but you're zone 5a for goodness sake!). Let me know if you find a real do-it-yourself adventurous gardeners with a photoblog.