For (mostly) wildflower afficionados, unless you like a few butterflies too

 Wildflowers seem to take a back stage to birds for many enthusiasts of the outdoors. I get it. I am sometimes like that myself. Birds are more active, elusive and sing. Wildflowers, on the other hand, are also relatively short-lived at their peak of colour, but they are more predictable in their location. Nonetheless, they are just as important in their own way, as an element of the natural world.

Some types of wildflowers get more attention than others, such as members of the orchid family. I  recently spent a bit more time on the search for them, with varying degrees of success. For example every year or so I typically make a special trip to the Ipperwash Crown Land area in north Lambton County, in late May or early June looking for three species of orchids: Pink Lady's-slipper, Hooker's Orchid and Ram's-head Lady's-slipper. The weather can play a part in exactly when, or even if, they will be in flower, not surprisingly, and this year was certainly an example of that. Even closer to home, the extremely warm period for a couple of weeks, followed by cool and wet weather for an even longer period, caused some species to get off to a good start, but then fail to complete their cycle. The normally very predictable Showy Orchid at Rondeau, where sometimes I see several dozen plants with impressive flower spikes in addition to sets of leaves, had the usual number of leaves, but did not have a single flower spike this year! That is the first time ever, in my many years of checking out this population. And the Puttyroot population at Rondeau, which often  has 50 or more sets of leaves on average, and at least a dozen flowering spikes, had only two flowering spikes.

So when I made the trek to orchid country at Ipperwash, I wasn't sure what to expect. It was so-so. Of the normally seen dozen Pink Lady's-slipper plants in bloom, I saw a single one still hanging on, and 3 others that had finished prematurely, looking quite dried up.

I saw 6 Hooker's Orchids.....

....and none of the Ram's-head Lady's-slipper, by far the rarest of these three.

In the general vicinity of the open dunes and parking lots, were quite a few Dusted Skippers, which were very flighty and territorial. It is considered rare in Ontario and Canada.

A visit to the nearby Karner Blue sanctuary turned up a few Wild Lupine, sometimes known as Sundial Lupine.

Narrow-leaved New Jersey Tea was growing in clumps here and there.

A couple of Juvenal's Duskywings were flitting around...

....as was this Little Wood-satyr.

This moth, a Large Lace-wing Border, was resting on a lily leaf in broad daylight.

Closer to home, in mostly woodland habitat, there continues to be a roll-out of wildflowers, including:

False Solomon's Seal

Blue-eyed Grass

Carrionflower

Canada Violet, mostly white but with the back side of the petals showing a distinctly pink/purple colour.

Canada Mayflower

Gray's Sedge

This next one likes open sandy areas, not woodland.

Hairy Puccoon

Herb-robert, in the next two photos, is dainty and attractive, but not native.

Jack-in-the-pulpit flowers are mostly hidden these days, as the upper leaves may collapse around 'Jack' while the seeds develop.

Wild, or Red, Columbine is mostly finished flowering except in very shaded areas.

Robin's Plantain, a member of the Aster family, likes the edges of sandy woodlands. It looks quite similar to the much more abundant Philadelphia Fleabane, but has more numerous petals and a hairy stem.

White Baneberry will soon be developing its 'Doll's-eyes' fruit.

Wood Betony, in either yellow or reddish purple, is almost finished flowering.

Wild Blue Phlox

There is still a fair bit of Wild Geranium around.

Sanicula sp.

Seneca Snakeroot, next, is found along the open edges of sandy woodland habitat.

Sweet Cicely

Tuliptree flowers are nicely out, although most are fairly high up so they can maximize the sun exposure.

A rather small wildflower, not uncommon in rich woodland is this next one: Running Strawberry Bush. It is anything but 'bush-like', however, merely a few centimetres in height.

In open, wet areas of a woodland, there may be a few of these showing: Yellow Water Crowfoot.

As the season unfolds, there will be more wildflowers to feature, along with birds, butterflies, herps, moths, etc., etc.

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Orchid delights

 With so much happening in spring, it is hard to keep up with everything. But it is always a highlight of the season to search for and enjoy native orchids. Some are colourful, some are not, but they are always a delight to see. They are not abundant, which makes finding them all the more rewarding.

 Some places have a good variety of orchids, such as Rondeau Provincial Park, which has had 19 species found within its boundaries. Many other woodlands in the area have never had any found.  Sandy soils seem to make a difference.

The first species to appear in flower in Rondeau, one that has been considered a species at risk but hasn't quite made it yet, is Showy Orchis, which typically flowers during the last third of May. It isn't very tall, and it can be easily missed in spite of its colourful flowers.

Here is one that likely everyone has seen, at least in photos: the Small Yellow Lady's-slipper. It is widespread in Ontario, and in places on the Bruce Peninsula, can be very abundant. At Rondeau I have seen it in three locations and likely occurs in a few more. One small population seldom flowers anymore, and the larger population is well away from any easy access, so I don't get to track it down every year.

Closely related is the Small White Lady's Slipper. It is a real rarity, and in fact is legally endangered in Ontario. There are a few spots for it on Walpole Island First Nation, but none are very accessible, and even then only with landowner's permission. I haven't been to see them for several years, so this one is from my archives. Other than being at Walpole, there is only one, or maybe two, other locations for it in all of Ontario.

Purple Twayblade, shown next, is also a legislated Species At Risk. It grows in a few scattered locations, but never seems to be very plentiful even where it is found. This one was in the Windsor area, in the greater Ojibway Prairie complex. There are all sorts of rare, threatened and endangered plant species there, which isn't surprising since the entire habitat is endangered in Canada. A population that I had known about for several decades, seemed to have disappeared, likely due to the invasion of Phragmites. However some fellow orchid enthusiasts had access to some coordinates for a single plant in another section of the complex, and after a bit of a search, Marie and I were fortunate to be able to see and photograph it. Thanks John, Peter, Jeremy and Natalya!
 

One that is visible all year round is this next one: Puttyroot. However for most of the year, only its somewhat distinctive leaves are showing, especially from November through May.

By very late May and into early June, a few flower spikes appear. However in the main population I have counted almost 60 sets of leaves in the early spring, but have never seen more than 15-20 flower spikes, and usually less than 10.

It isn't showy, but it is distinctive.

This next species may still grow at Rondeau, although I haven't seen one in flower in decades. It is Hooker's Orchid. It isn't very colourful either, so one has to look a little more intensively to find it. For getting these photos, I had to travel to a sandy site in north Lambton County where I found a few plants.

 While I was there, I took the opportunity to track down a spot nearby which usually has a few Pink Lady's-slippers, also known as Moccasin Flower.

One of my goals on this trip to north Lambton was to find a tiny, but somewhat showy orchid called Ram's Head Lady's-slipper, which I have seen here before on several occasions. However on this trip, I did not see anything but leaves, so maybe next year it will be in flower. This photo was taken in 2019. A close-up looks impressive, but in reality this whole plant was no more than about 10 cm high. This location is believed to be the most southerly in all of Canada.

The flush of orchids will taper off somewhat now, at least locally. But later in the season there are a few others that I hope to find and feature on a future post.