Bog Beauties

If you haven't received a copy of the March-April issue of the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, here's a view of our "Bog Beauties" feature.  It's hard to imagine, after this long winter in northern Minnesota, that several of these orchid gems could be blooming within 6 weeks. 

In Jim’s public speaking, he often makes an analogy between this photograph of him blowing the seeds from the orchid seed pod and his photographs and writings.  Out of his thousands of words and images that have been published (or the 10,000 orchid seeds contained in the seed pod), he knows full well that most will drift out into the universe. Conditions are usually right for only one or two seeds to finally take root and bloom 17 years later. Like the delicate and fragile seeds of this Showy Lady’s-slipper (our state flower), he hopes one of his 'seeds'  will also take hold in someone’s mind and spirit and will in turn 'bloom' and make a difference in helping to heighten respect for our fragile environment.

Photograph of Jim in the orchid bog at Ravenwood by Trisha Flaherty 

 
An excellent book that has helped us learn about our  Minnesota orchids is "Native Orchids of Minnesota" by Welby R. Smith.  Copies of the book and the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer with our "Bog Beauties" feature are available at our Brandenburg Gallery in Ely.  Call 218-365-6563 for information.