Jim Fowler's photos

We left the conference on Friday afternoon and headed out to a wonderful protected site called Wagner Natural Area. It's open to the public, but many just go there for the hike through the woods. I've never seen so many orchids in one place. Some of these may actually be the variety called "makasin", but there is so much variability at this location, that these may all just be color forms of the same species.

We left the conference on Friday afternoon and headed out to a wonderful protected site called Wagner Natural Area. It's open to the public, but many just go there for the hike through the woods. I've never seen so many orchids in one place. Some of these may actually be the variety called "makasin", but there is so much variability at this location, that these may all just be color forms of the same species.

We left the conference on Friday afternoon and headed out to a wonderful protected site called Wagner Natural Area. It's open to the public, but many just go there for the hike through the woods. I've never seen so many orchids in one place. Some of these may actually be the variety called "makasin", but there is so much variability at this location, that these may all just be color forms of the same species.

We left the conference on Friday afternoon and headed out to a wonderful protected site called Wagner Natural Area. It's open to the public, but many just go there for the hike through the woods. I've never seen so many orchids in one place. This is just a tease for what's to come...

We left the conference on Friday afternoon and headed out to a wonderful protected site called Wagner Natural Area. It's open to the public, but many just go there for the hike through the woods. I've never seen so many orchids in one place. This is just a tease for what's to come...

We left the conference on Friday afternoon and headed out to a wonderful protected site called Wagner Natural Area. It's open to the public, but many just go there for the hike through the woods. This particular species gets its energy directly from underground fugus, and although it appears to have chlorophyl, it grows in the deep woods. I've never seen so many orchids in one place. This is just a tease for what's to come...

We left the conference on Friday afternoon and headed out to a wonderful protected site called Wagner Natural Area. It's open to the public, but many just go there for the hike through the woods. This particular species gets its energy directly from underground fugus, and although it appears to have chlorophyl, it grows in the deep woods. I've never seen so many orchids in one place. This is just a tease for what's to come...

The white form of the Common Grass-pink Orchid just started blooming in my front yard bog garden. The white form usually blooms three to four weeks after the standard, purple form blooms. This is one of my favorite terrestrial orchids, and thankfully it is quite easy to grow in a bog garden setting.

The white form of the Common Grass-pink Orchid just started blooming in my front yard bog garden. The white form usually blooms three to four weeks after the standard, purple form blooms. This is one of my favorite terrestrial orchids, and thankfully it is quite easy to grow in a bog garden setting.

The Rose pogonia or Snakemouth orchid can be found frequently in large groups -- most often in shallow ditches and wet meadows. The plant usually produces a single flower, but occasionally, it will produce a double flower. Rarely, it will produce a triple flower.

Just to prove that we found both Cleistes species blooming on the same day. Not only that -- they were growing only twenty feet apart!

This is not a rare orchid at all, but I was surprised to see it in the really dry, sandy setting. View large to see the characteristic green stripes in the lip. Each flower is about one-quarter of an inch long.

Today, two of my flickr buddies and I met up in Boiling Spring Lakes in Brunswick County, North Carolina to see what spring orchids we could find. We lucked out with two species that were in tip-top shape. This one is a bit unusual in that it usually has only a single flower. This is, as you can see, a double-flowered one...

Today, two of my flickr buddies and I met up in Boiling Spring Lakes in Brunswick County, North Carolina to see what spring orchids we could find. We lucked out with two species that were in tip-top shape. These were a bit early for the Green Swamp area. Usually, they start blooming the first week in June. I'm not complaining, though -- we were quite happy to find so many in such good condition...

Today, two of my flickr buddies and I met up in Boiling Spring Lakes in Brunswick County, North Carolina to see what spring orchids we could find. We lucked out with two species that were in tip-top shape. These were a bit early for the Green Swamp area. Usually, they start blooming the first week in June. I'm not complaining, though -- we were quite happy to find so many in such good condition...

Today, two of my flickr buddies and I met up in Boiling Spring Lakes in Brunswick County, North Carolina to see what spring orchids we could find. We lucked out with two species that were in tip-top shape. These were a bit early for the Green Swamp area. Usually, they start blooming the first week in June. I'm not complaining, though -- we were quite happy to find so many in such good condition...

Today, two of my flickr buddies and I met up in Boiling Spring Lakes in Brunswick County, North Carolina to see what spring orchids we could find. We lucked out with two species that were in tip-top shape. These were a bit early for the Green Swamp area. Usually, they start blooming the first week in June. I'm not complaining, though -- we were quite happy to find so many in such good condition...

Today, two of my flickr buddies and I met up in Boiling Spring Lakes in Brunswick County, North Carolina to see what spring orchids we could find. We lucked out with two species that were in tip-top shape. These were a bit early for the Green Swamp area. Usually, they start blooming the first week in June. I'm not complaining, though -- we were quite happy to find so many in such good condition...