Wild Calypso Orchid 2

They are beautiful Greenthumb.

I was gonna say exactly that Michaella.....so pretty

They look lovely.

~great GT~flowers everywhere at last!

How wonderful so have these growing wild on your doorstep jealous as I am think you deserve all the beauty nature can throw at you .. those winters of yours must seem to return all too soon.

They are wonderful Gt........as beautiful as any garden flower if not more so...super!!

Spectacular what else can i say.

Thank you all. I've known of these for years and never went and looked. Very worth a look. I am more amazed that these come through every winter! I may have to try something like Nelke's alpine pots and bring a patch home. probably come through fine.

Oh wow, look at all of them! Beautiful!

Thanks Tasteyg! :-)

Gorgeous GT :)

Thanks Jacque. And such an intoxicating smell!

Absolutely stunning, GT. From your vivid description, I can almost smell them!

Thanks you GG. A real sight! If there were no mosquitos, I'd have just lain there amidst them for hours.

OMG!!!! what a picture! so beautiful and naturally wild! You are so lucky Gt...intoxicating? Hahaha...like Dorothy, the scarecrow, Tin man and the Lion...just lie down and fall asleep! Once heard a tale of a man in the north who engaged in a different kind of intoxication, fell asleep on his deck and awoke hours later with terminal mosquito bites!!! sad but true!

Yeaouch! Never sleep in the mosquitoes! Sadder is we have 3 or 4 death a year from intoxicants falling asleep in the snow.

I would have loved to sleep amongst the orchids. They grow in the tundra so there is no ground , just moist moss so it would be a very damp sleep. :-)

Wonderful picture! I love to see wild flowers. One man's weed is another man's orchid!

Which reminds me of the Milk Thistle (?) The thistle that grows tall but has beautiful white veining on its leaves. In the centre of Spain they grow on any old waste ground & are just weeds yet in our gardens in the UK they are a treasured specimen plant in the borders!

I found a picture here:

http://www.photographyontherun.com/content/binary/MilkThistleSageRanch1674b.jpg

I heartily agree Balcony. I've been wanting a thistle here myself but haven;t delved into obtaining it as of yet. :-) We had huge scotch thistle growing up and I've always loved them.

I have the scotch thistles too, Gt. and they grow to about 8 ft tall! the goldfinches just love them... it's a sight to see the bright yellow flash in a cloud of flying thistledown! they spread like mad and are very hazardous when barefoot!!

Yes, that is what I'm afraid of Lori. I don't want to add them here since I rent. There are no thistles in the area at all and I'm not sure I should start them. I do wish though. :-) Sounds like you wonderful thistle around there.