Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Sparrow's-egg Orchid

Also known as Franklin's lady's-slipper. Two days ago, on 19 June 2018, there were two walks I wanted to go on - an afternoon botany walk at Griffith Woods, especially as I have missed most of the walks this session; and a birding walk in the evening at Lafarge Meadows in Fish Creek Park. Usually, I don't do two walks on the same day, as it is just too much walking for me. Quite a few plant species were seen at Griffith Woods, including both Yellow lady's-slippers and the white Sparrow's-egg lady's slippers. The flower in this photo is the Sparrow's-egg lady's-slipper, also known as Franklin's lady's-slipper. We don't see these white orchids very often. We were lucky enough to see two Black-crowned night-herons in Fish Creek Park, though they were far, far away. A Great Blue Heron stood at the river's edge, fishing, and the occasional American White Pelican flew high up. The group of 8 of us saw 39 bird species in total. After the evening walk, a few of us went to Tim Horton's for coffee and chat. Coffee doesn't usually keep me awake, but I guess I'm not normally drinking it at 10:00 pm! Despite feeling tired out from two walks, I was also 'wired' and it was 6:00 am before I finally fell into bed the next morning. An hour later, I was awake, so yesterday was definitely a slow day at home.

These are rarely found in Calgary, but I was one of several people privileged to be shown some of these beautiful, delicate flowers at Lawrey Gardens, Edworthy Park, on 29 June 2010. "This delicate lady's-slipper is a pleasant find. Often occurring in moist areas along trails, it has 4 or 5 lily-like leaves tightly clasping the stem and slowly spreading outward. The white flower head looks like a white egg bursting out of a green case. Flower: The flower has a green sepal rising above, almost hiding the white pouch. There are two white lateral wings and a white pouch with purple spots inside. The flower head is approximately 1 cm long." From MountainNature.com.

These are rarely found in Calgary, but I was one of several people privileged to be shown some of these beautiful, delicate flowers last summer. "This delicate lady's-slipper is a pleasant find. Often occurring in moist areas along trails, it has 4 or 5 lily-like leaves tightly clasping the stem and slowly spreading outward. The white flower head looks like a white egg bursting out of a green case. Flower: The flower has a green sepal rising above, almost hiding the white pouch. There are two white lateral wings and a white pouch with purple spots inside. The flower head is approximately 1 cm long." From MountainNature.com.

We saw this little wild Orchid at Lawrey Gardens (a natural area), which is part of Edworthy Park, on June 29th.

About nine of us spent the day at the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains, at Bow Valley Provincial Park. The main focus was on birds of the area, but we were surrounded by wildflowers and insects, too. This provincial park is an amazing area for flowers at this time of the year. Lots of wild orchids, for a start! Not sure what the temperature was, but somewhere around 30C. A couple who were walking in the area told me about a small cluster of these uncommon Sparrow's-egg Orchids along the bank of a tiny stream in the park. I've only ever seen them once, and that was at the only location in the city, so I was very happy to see them today.