🌿 CALYPSO bulbosa (Fairy slipper) 🌿

CALYPSO BULBOSA
Shaw Island
Three April two thousand and sixteen.
This alert person behind the hand,
found a colony of Calypso, the
most I have ever seen in one location.

"Passing through a heavily shaded, coniferous forest during May [but in early April in 2016,] the watchful traveler will sometimes be rewarded by coming upon a classic orchid of bewitching elegance, so delicate as it grows alone on a bed of heavy humus or fern moss. Nature's artistry is hard to miss in the perfect design––a nodding head with five rosy-purplish tepals (modified petals) above a little face, that has a pink upper lip, a white lower one flushed with pink, and a blood red-streaked throat that seems as if it were hand-painted. If that isn't enough, the heads often have a pleasing, unusual fragrance. Calypso, Atlas' daughter in Greek mythology, was a sea nymph, often concealed below the waves, and here her name honors the lovely charms and inconspicuous nature of our orchid. The roots grow in association with certain fungi and, thus, attempts to transplant are futile; plants also can not tolerate picking or other disturbances. This species was formerly believed to be rare in our area, but naturalists in Washington have now found that it is widespread. The San Juans are particularly blessed, with impressive colonies present on many islands, such as Jones, Sucia, Lopez, Orcas, and many others."

      No one can say it better than these two authors:

Wild Plants of the San Juan Islands. Atkinson, Scott and Fred Sharpe. Seattle, The Mountaineers. 1985.
      How's that for the start of April on Shaw Island.

      If you'd like to be knocked over with some photographic art visit this PNW site to view the wild Calypso orchid captured by a master.Pacific Northwest Orchids
      Artist Joan Baez includes the Calypso in her song "If I knew"

🌿 HAPPY EASTER 🌿

The sweet "Fawn Lily" (Erythronium oregonum) is blooming now on the Biological Preserve. 
      The first orchids of the year to bloom are Calypso bulbosa, now budding-out on Fidalgo Island. Don't miss enjoying the gems with such an early spring now upon us in 2016. Please see this incredible photographic record of native orchids in bloom.

Have a great Easter weekend.
Antique litho postcard.

🌿 In the Spring ・・・ 🌿

"In the spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours." 

Mark Twain.

Helleborus argutifolius
Blooming on Shaw Island
anno twenty March twenty sixteen
Glassybabys, Frog Hunting, Jade & Pollen.

🌿 Daffodil 'Van Sion' 🌿

"You search for beauty near & far
While winter holds you with its chills,
But soon spring's gates will stand ajar,
And in will march the daffodils!"
Grant E. Mitsch
Unenhanced photo anno nineteen February 2016
Shaw Island pioneer homestead.

A few purchased Narcissus 'Van Sion' bulbs were planted last fall on the south side of the Gatehouse garden area. Watch for them blooming this spring.
      There is one more post about this Narcissus growing on Shaw Island HERE

Blue drops for February

Little blue droplets escorting us to Tulip time.
 Iris reticulata bulbs from the wonderful
Christianson's Nursery, Skagit Flats, WA.
Planted on Shaw Island, autumn 2015.

Hiding on the back side,
Cyclamen coum
this day of fifteen February 2016.
Coum bulbs from Hansen Nursery,
North Bend, OR. 

Happy Saint Valentine's

Vintage postcard
Gatehouse collection.

Helleborus orientalis

Longtime islander, Helleborus orientalis,
New handblown Glassybaby 'Frog Hunting,'
Ella Higginson, the first poet laureate of WA.
A trio blooming where they were planted,
Shaw Island, WA.
anno twenty-nine January 2016.

🌿 IF YOU HAVE A GARDEN 🌿

"If you have a garden and a library,
you have everything you need."
Cicero 106-43 BCE