Amerorchis rotunfolia

[parvi_17]

Yesterday I embarked on a plant rescuing mission with some other native plant enthusiasts on a property that is being developed for industrial activities. This property is located very near to a known (and protected) orchid habitat, so we knew we would find some interesting species there. The forest that once grew here has been demolished, but in the marshy substrate some plants have managed to survive amongst shrubs and grasses. I managed to rescuse some 30 individual plants of Amerorchis rotundifolia (round-leaved orchis), a diminutive but very pretty species that currently is quite common around here in localized populations. I planted these plants in an artificial bog in my garden today. Here are some photos of the plants when I first got them home (sorry for the low quality, these tiny flowers are very hard to photograph!):











I will post some photos of the plants in the bog soon. As you can see many of these are in flower, but many are younger plants as well. I also brought home some shooting stars (Dodecatheon pulchellum), golden corydalis (Corydalis aurea), twinflower (Linnaea borealis), and what might be northern twayblade (Listera borealis).

 

[paphioboy]

Very interesting.. Well, at least you don't have to buy them..oke: In the last pic, did you plant them along with the grasses as well?

 

[parvi_17]

Very interesting.. Well, at least you don't have to buy them..oke: In the last pic, did you plant them along with the grasses as well?

I dug up each plant with a bit of the surrounding terrain so that it would be as easy as possible to acclimatize it to garden conditions. In some cases, the orchids were growing in tight clumps and I had to dig up a large clump of terrain, which also contained grasses and other plants. Yes, these clumps were planted as they were. I will take a picture tomorrow of the final result.

Joe

 

[NYEric]

Nice, it sucks that habitats get taken away that way. Hopefully something of more value than a Mall or shopping center is being built there. It would be nice if the architects could incorporate the native plants into the landscape architecture instead of just lawns and tree plantings. Hope the plants flourish for you. Thanx for sharing.

 

[biothanasis]

It is very interesting and cute indeed!!!! Good luck...

 

[cnycharles]

I hope they survive and grow for you. They are/were supposed to exist in NY state but they haven't been seen for quite some time. There used to be a small northern white cedar fen where downtown Syracuse is that had calypso bulbosa and some other interesting orchids in it and they filled it in to put buildings there. From what I've seen of downtown syracuse it was quite a waste!

 

[Ron-NY]

I dug up each plant with a bit of the surrounding terrain so that it would be as easy as possible to acclimatize it to garden conditions. In some cases, the orchids were growing in tight clumps and I had to dig up a large clump of terrain, which also contained grasses and other plants. Yes, these clumps were planted as they were. I will take a picture tomorrow of the final result.

Joe

Joe, good save!

 

[parvi_17]

Thanks for all the comments and good wishes, everyone. I will get that picture of the bog on here today.