09/04/24

 It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog!  Today's image is an older one once again and a different one as it is not from my state.  This is a Wildflower from Minnesota that I have been fortunate to see a few times while visiting there.  It is their state flower and is rare so it is illegal to pick them or dig them up.  It can take up to 16 years for them to produce their first bloom.

6/26/23

 Happy Monday!  While I was in Minnesota, I was driving around my usual spots to look for birds to photograph.  I was driving down a dirt road I have traveled several times at the same time of year and was surprised by these in an area I had never spotted them in.  There were several very large groups of these flowers in bloom off the side of the road.  This is one of my phone images of a couple of them.  These are Showy Lady Slipper flowers which have been the state flower of Minnesota since 1902.

6/30/21

 It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog once again!  The year is half over as of today, wow it is going quickly.  Anyway, today's wildflower is once again from Minnesota.  This is their state flower and is the Showy Lady Slipper, a memeber of the Orchid family.  I found this group a couple of weeks ago while at Tamarac Wildlife Refuge.

7/11/18

I captured this image at Tamarac Wildlife Refuge in Minnesota this past June.  There is a spot where I have been able to view the state's flower, the Showy Lady Slipper several times.  On this occasion I was able to capture one of the many Dragonflies that were around that day on one of the flowers.

7/1/16

So cooler today and under a Flash Flood Watch for the weekend.  How ironic when we can hardly get a drop.  I want rain but I don't really want a crazy amount.  As they say though, "Beggars can't be choosy".   Guess we shall see what happens.  Anyway, today's photo is of a Showy Lady Slipper that I saw at Tamarac Wildlife Refuge in Minnesota.  It is only one of maybe 100s that we saw.  It was a very good year for them and there were huge groups of them growing in the woods.  This flower is in the Orchid family and is a wildflower that is somewhat rare but is Minnesota's state flower.  It is also known as a Pink Lady Slipper and also as The Queen's Lady Slipper.  This is a link to a map of a growing range of the US for it and it's quite interesting:  http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=cyre6