Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes)

Last year, RailGuy made an exciting discovery. While walking the dog in our forest, he noticed a patch of orchids, pink lady-slippers (Cypripedium acaule). Our woodland is not too floriferous generally, so it was a pretty cool find.

Worldwide, there are about 50 Cypripedium species, of which 5 are commonly found in northeastern United States and Canada. Of these, C. acaule is one of the most common, along with the yellow lady-slipper (C. parviflorum). It differs from other such orchids in a number of ways. While most lady-slippers prefer moist or boggy ground, C. acaule will grow in dry, acidic soil, especially under pine or hemlock trees. Other Cypripediums flower on leaf-bearing stems, while C acaule produces two broad leaves at ground level and a leafless flower stalk.

The flower is formed from three petals. One of the petals is greatly modified to form the pouch, or labellum, while the other two petals are narrow and twisted, one on each side of the labellum. The resemblance to slippers is easier to see in the yellow lady-slipper, which has a rounded opening at the top of the labellum. Pink lady-slippers have a different arrangement. Insects, usually bumblebees, must push through a slit that runs down the front of the labellum.

The flowers have long been compared to shoes, even across cultures. The genus name, Cypripedium comes from the Greek cypris (the island of Cyprus) and pedilon, meaning shoe. The lady-slipper is named for Aphrodite, who is said to have sprung from the sea near Cyprus. Cypripedium is thus “the shoe of the Cyprian’.

An Ojibway legend is the source of another common name, moccasin flower. The tale tells of a young maiden who ran a long distance to obtain medicine to save her people. As her moccasins were shredded, her torn feet left droplets of blood on the ground. Each droplet gave rise to a lady-slipper orchid.

Woodland wildflowers across the Northeast are sliding into decline. One factor is an over-browsing deer population that has arisen since humans eliminated most of their predators. Another factor is the introduction of non-native earthworms, spread, for example, by fishermen discarding leftover bait worms. The worms disrupt the natural leaf mulch blanketing the forest and protecting flowers.

Drizzly Day

We have been experiencing some cool, rainy weather lately. The garden can be very attractive on a drizzly day, with plant leaves dotted with sparkling raindrops. Here’s a look at a few plants as they enjoy a misting of rain.

Allium

Daylily leaves

Barberry (Berberis thunbergii ‘Gentry’)

Hosta ‘August Moon’

Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla mollis)

Ornamental Rhubarb (Rheum palmatum var. tanguticum)

Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum ‘Crimson Queen’)

Hosta ‘Krossa Regal’

Ligularia dentata ‘Desdemona’

Ravenswing (Anthriscus sylvestris)

Since Europeans first arrived in North America, the history of Canada has been one of exploitation and greed. Beavers were among the first victims of a ruthless no-holds-barred attack on the natural world. Beavers were hunted to the edge of extinction, with beavers completely extirpated from many regions. Fortunately for beavers, the craze for felted beaver-pelt hats fell out of fashion in Europe just in time to save them. Beavers have been able to stage a comeback. Fortunately for us, too, as beavers are a keystone species whose constructions are essential to providing vital habitat for many other species.

Beavers build wetlands. We, on the other hand, recklessly destroy them. In Ontario, over 70 per cent of southern Ontario’s large inland wetlands (over 90% in some regions) have been lost, drained or converted to other land uses, and this loss continues at an alarming rate.

Nothing much has changed in Canada since the early days of European colonization. Canadians don’t respect their land. Canada has one of the worst environmental records in the developed world. Consider this passage from Dr. David R. Boyd:

That Canada has become an international laggard in environmental policy and practice is now an incontrovertible fact. In 2009, the Conference Board of Canada ranked Canada 15th out of 17 wealthy industrialized nations on environmental performance. In 2010, researchers at Simon Fraser University ranked Canada 24th out of 25 OECD nations on environmental performance.

Yale and Columbia ranked Canada 37th in their 2012 Environmental Performance Index, far behind green leaders such as Sweden, Norway, and Costa Rica, and trailing major industrial economies including Germany, France, Japan, and Brazil. Worse yet, our performance is deteriorating, as we rank 52nd in terms of progress over the 2000-2010 period. Even Prime Minister Harper has candidly admitted, “Canada’s environmental performance is, by most measures, the worst in the developed world. We’ve got big problems.”

You can read the full account linked here: Little Green Lies: Prime Minister Harper and Canada’s Environment.

Things have only gotten worse since the Harper Conservatives came to power. Through a series of omnibus bills (C-38, C-45) the Conservatives have removed what little protection once existed. The goal is to allow industry, especially Big Oil, full and unencumbered access to all and any resources they fancy. Canada has effectively become a subsidiary of TransCanada and Embridge and the oil companies they serve as cronyism and monopoly capitalism are given free rein.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, we now have the Ontario Liberals following the Conservative lead. Ontario’s Endangered Species Act is being rewritten and you can bet that what the government euphemistically terms ‘streamlining’ isn’t being done for the benefit of any species but humans. You can read more at the Sierra Club Canada website, linked here.

When land isn’t protected, when vital habitat is destroyed, endangered species have nowhere to go. Extinction is forever.

Ontario native plants

In recent years, interest in native plants has grown among gardeners, and there has been a corresponding rise in the availability of plants that were once hard to find. Even ephemeral parking lot nurseries feature racks of native plants from columbine to jack-in-the-pulpits. What a boon for those wishing to develop native gardens.

On their Wildlife Friendly Gardening website, linked here, the Canadian Wildlife Federation makes these points and more:

Regionally native plants are those that have grown wild in your area for many centuries. They have co-evolved with, and are therefore adapted to, the local environment and wildlife. Though many of today’s popular garden plants are imported, native plants are making a comeback for a host of good reasons:

Native plants require less maintenance. When planted in a spot that mimics their natural habitat – in terms of lighting, soil or moisture, they typically thrive with less or no need for fertilizer and watering than other plants.

Native plants are less susceptible to disease and pests, having co-evolved with their local environment.

Regionally native plants provide valuable food sources and shelter for the wildlife around them. Many domestic flowers have been bred for showiness and may have lost much of their nectar and pollen producing capacity.

Some wildlife species are entirely dependent on the availability of certain native plants. By choosing plants native to your region you help your local wildlife thrive, let alone survive.

When I visited this garden centre, I was surprised to see that some of the local wildlife couldn’t wait for gardeners to take the plants home. An American Robin had constructed a nest right in the centre of the plants! Mom was very brave, and sat tight even as shoppers walked by the stand within a foot of her. Her mate made forays to the nest to bring her meals. From her neatly hidden nest, she watched me carefully as I took her photograph from a distance. Here she is.

As I walked along the edge of the garden this morning, I glanced over to see how the rodgersias were doing (quite well), and a pattern caught my eye, a garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis). He/she was a fair size, close to 3 feet in length, but it was the expanded pattern between the stripes that made me look more closely.

Garter snakes are usually rather shy, happy to beat a hasty retreat as soon as they’re spotted. However, this individual was in no rush to move on, and indeed was very cooperative, waiting patiently while I retrieved my camera from the house and took a few photos. It appears that a meal had recently been ingested, perhaps one of the numerous toads that call the garden home, and the snake was loath to move on while it digested brunch.

It’s probably just fancy that suggests the snake is smiling a contented smile.

Aquilegia canadensis

Last year, I added some new shrubs to the garden. I don’t have a lot of experience with shrubs, and as I was perusing the selection at local nurseries, I noticed a little azalea called ‘Golden Lights’. The tag assured the reader that the shrub was hardy and I decided to give it a try, though I associate azaleas with the south.

When I got home, I learned through a bit of internet research that the ‘Northern Lights’ series are cold-hardy azaleas developed by the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. The program developed its first commercially available seedlings in 1978. ‘Golden Lights’ was introduced in 1986.

Azaleas are a subgenera of rhododendrons. They enjoy acidic soil and can tolerate some shade. ‘Golden Lights’ grows to 6 feet and in addition to spring flowers, offers bright fall foliage.

I had modest expectations for ‘Golden Lights’ and was pleased to see that it survived the winter. Then I watched with growing excitement as it began to produce buds and finally flowers. Wow, what a stunner! Every time I walk down to look at my little bush, about 2 feet tall and covered with flowers, little bubbles of laughter float up through me like bubbles in an Aero bar.

Now I’ll be on the lookout for other ‘Northern Lights’ azaleas at local nurseries.

Here’s Geranium macrorrhizum ‘Ingwersen’s Variety’ blooming beside our little pond. This is its third summer, and it has filled in nicely and formed an attractive clump. Macrorrhizum geraniums are sometimes called Bigroot cranesbills and are native to the southeast alps and the Balkans. Geranium macrorrhizum ‘Ingwersen’s Variety’ does well in shade and tolerates dry conditions. Incidentally, hardy geraniums, or cranesbills, are quite unlike the annuals we call geraniums, which are really pelergoniums. However, both do belong to the family Geraniaceae.

Gardeners owe a debt of gratitude to the plantsmen and women who discovered or hybridized many of our most popular garden plants. You will probably find some of them commemorated in the names of plants in your own yard, and ‘Ingwersen’s Variety’ is a good example.

Walter Ingwersen (W.E.Th. Ingwersen 1883-1960) was born in Hamburg and moved to England before World War I, where he opened a nursery. He later went into partnership with Clarence Elliott at Six Hills Nursery. In 1927, he founded Birch Farm Nursery, in East Grinstead, West Sussex, England. In addition to running the nursery, Walter went on plant-hunting expeditions with his son Will. His younger son, Paul, eventually joined the business and ran Birch Farm nursery until he retired in 2008. The Ingwersens were alpine plant enthusiasts, and Will wrote the Manual of Alpine Plants, published in 1978. Geranium macrorrhizum ‘Ingwersen’s Variety’ is their best-known namesake.