Yellow Lady's Slipper was probably my first exposure to Orchids. I vividly remember seeing a clump of them on the Appalachian Trail in Tennessee. It was before the days of internet, cellphones and digital cameras. Back then it was about hiking and camping. But after seeing these and a large patch of Dwarf Crested Iris, I began reading a little and becoming familiar with wildflowers. Then I would plan trips to the Smokies and Blue Ridge Parkway, looking for Trillium, Orchids and others. Then I found out they were in West Virginia as well. Now, I spend much more time searching out populations of wildflowers here in WV. It took a couple of years of running down leads to find Showy Orchis, which is within a few miles of home. Then Trillium (almost in my back yard ), Pink Lady's Slipper (five miles away) and this year, Snow Trillium after a couple years of trying. My most gut wrenching search was for Showy Lady's Slipper. I had leads, research papers and a kind WVU Botanist trying to help. I spent hours, over two or three years, hiking the mountains in the correct area and then driving the many miles home and comparing notes, marking maps and trying to narrow it down. Finally, many miles north, I literally stumbled on a population of them while traipsing through the area of one of the two known populations in WV. But Yellow Lady's Slipper remains one of my favorites. A few pictures from today follow.
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| #80- Yellow Lady's Slipper |
Absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!
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