Ghost Whispering

With our large van out of commission on the south side of Naples, FL after leaving the COS symposium, we were able to convince my eldest son, Josh, to come pick us up. This made for a rather harrowing early morning ride back to Orlando with two rather tired drivers (Josh and myself) taking tandem shifts to get us back. The van still in Naples, we had it towed to a nearby shop where they proceeded to repair it in our absence.

This, of course, meant that we had to go retrieve it once it had been fixed. So, Josh, Timothy (my 2nd oldest son) and I made the trip back down to Naples yesterday. Since we were already so close to the Fakahatchee Strand, Tim and I decided to press on to the swamp while Josh headed back to finish studying for finals coming up. I probably would get an award for evil dad of the day trying to convince Josh to postpone his studies and join us in the Fak...alas, he is too diligent of a student!

Now, I knew that this is late in the season to find blooming ghost orchids (Dendrophylax lindenii)...and a check of our usual haunts turned up bloomless plants. I had lost almost all hope when I followed my maps to one final plant seen on several trips before. This is the same plant showing a double bloom on my ghost orchid gallery page.

As I sighted up the trunk of the tree, my eyes were met with one of the last ghost orchid flowers of the season. I pointed this out to Tim, whose audible sigh let me know that he was experiencing that 'first ghost orchid in the wild' feeling. I had experienced this to some extent when seeing the ghost orchid at Corkscrew Swamp, but even moreso when I had seen my first flower only a few feet out of reach in the middle of the deep swamp.

It was a good thing I had my Canon 70-300 mm telephoto lens this day, as about 30 feet of stifling, mosquito-laden air separated me from my prize. We stayed there for roughly an hour, photographing the flower every time the light was good and the breeze was light. Here is a photo from this day...the day Tim whispered a sigh of awe at seeing his first wild ghost.

Coming to a town near you

With the new year, I have resumed giving talks at orchid societies, native plant societies, garden clubs, and the like. I had a great time speaking recently to the Martin County Native Plant Society, the St. Augustine Orchid Society, the Seminole County Native Plant Society, the Jacksonville Native Plant Society, the Marion County Native Plant Society, the Venice Area Orchid Society, the Jupiter-Tequesta Orchid Society, and the Coalition for Orchid Species Symposium, giving my presentation 'Orchids in Our Backyard: Florida's Wild Orchids'. This presentation has been very well received where it has been presented.

I also presented my new presentation 'Orchids in Our Backyard: Florida's Wild Orchids - Part II' at the Tampa Bay Orchid Society and the Central Florida Orchid Society. Featuring a new cast of characters taken from Florida's wild lands, this presentation is also garnering rave reviews.

Check the calendar at the end of this blog page to see when I might be speaking in a town near you. If you are part of a plant society or garden club and would like me to come speak, I generally like to do one engagement a month, and I still have openings in November through December. Please E-MAIL ME if you are interested.

I'll be at the following places over the coming months:

• Brevard County Orchid Society, Mon, August 8, 7pm – 9pm, Satellite Beach Civic Center, 565 Cassia Blvd, Satellite Beach FL 32937. Click for map.
  
• Jacksonville Orchid Society, Tue, Sep 13, 7:30pm – 9:30pm, Garden Club of Jacksonville, 1005 Riverside Avenue, Jacksonville, FL. Click for map.
  

The Butterfly Orchid - a Florida Icon on a Tee

We have just released a new t-shirt featuring Florida's popular and iconic orchid, Encyclia tampensis (common name: Florida Butterfly Orchid). I am wearing this tee-shirt right now, and I must say that it is quite lovely, if I do say so myself. The shirt itself features an entire plant with multiple flowers in the background and a closeup of a single flower in the foreground. It features both the common and scientific names of the plant, so it is both educational and beautiful to look at.



It is available in all sizes from Small to 3XL. Click the following link to go to my Cafe Press store:

Florida Butterfly Orchid Tees at Cafe Press

Snowy Orchid (Platanthera nivea) - Reprise

Photographs taken over 'classic black' with my new Canon Digital Rebel T3i:

Corkscrew Swamp Ghost Orchid in Bloom

I have just been informed that the Corkscrew Swamp ghost orchid is in flower with seven flowers presently.
http://www.corkscrew.audubon.org/.

Sometimes, one must travel far...

...to find that orchid to photograph. In this case, our travels took us into southern Georgia to find Platanthera nivea in flower. The Florida localities that I tried came up empty, but it seems that these are running a little late this year.

First Publication Cover!

The reason I go out into the field to photograph Florida's wild orchids is because they interest me and I hope to share this interest with others, and this is its own reward. When one of my photographs is chosen for publication, I am honored and humbled that someone has considered using my work. Recently, I was approached to submit a photo of a Florida native orchid for use for the cover of the Florida State Horticultural Society Proceedings. After submitting several photos, we settled on a photo of "Miguel's ghost orchid", an orchid discovered by the late Miguel Urquia in a deep nook in the Fakahatchee Strand, that had four flowers open at once (I photographed it a few days before the final bud opened). They liked the photo so much, they wanted to use an additional photo for the back cover. Here are the two photos that appear on the front and back cover of the 2010 proceedings of the FSHS:

Front Cover:



Back Cover:



In celebration of this publication, I will be making limited edition prints of the photo of Miguel's ghost available for purchase at upcoming speaking engagements.

You can click here to go to the 2010 proceedings website.

It's Not Easy Being Green, Or Is It?

I recently came across a population of one of our more common orchids, Habenaria repens, in a wet ditch in the Orlando area. Known by the common name of 'Water Spider Orchid', plants are notoriously difficult to see even when in full flower, owing to the fact that the plant, along with its minuscule flowers (which are a bit over 1 cm wide), is completely green to yellow-green.

This might cause you to wonder, "How on earth would a completely green flower stand out enough from its background vegetation to be seen by a pollinator?" Just FYI, these flowers are not self-pollinating. It's easy enough to see a flash of pink, red, purple, blue, or buttery yellow against the sea of background vegetation and hone in on the location of a flower, even from a fair distance, but green just blends in with all the other greens that you see. The answer is that it's all a matter of timing.

Walk by the same roadside ditch at night and the flowers will be even less observable by the sense of sight. But even our ridiculously dull sense of smell will pick up a distinct, sweet fragrance wafting over the shallow water. A night flying moth, with a much stronger sense of smell, will be able to find these flowers from miles away, provided that it is not misled by all of our 'artificial moons' (electric lights of various kinds) that interfere with its sense of lunar navigation. Following this stream of sweet odor, these vampires of the Lepidoptera make their way to their quarry. Inserting their probosces into the spur-like nectary that is formed by the back of the lip, they drink sweet nectar from the last few millimeters at the end of the spur. This reward is not, however, offered without its price. The eyes of the insects engage the tips of the pollen-bearing structures (known as pollinia) which are coated with a sticky glue. Thus, when the insect withdraws, its eyes now bear the pollinia to carry them to the next flower. It's a dance between insect and flower that goes largely unobserved, unless you happen to shine a flashlight on a flowering stem at just the right moment.

This strategy of night-scented orchids is actually pretty common in Florida, although not all of them are green-flowered. Some flowers are brilliant white, which might make them more observable in the dim starlight or moonlight that reaches the inner recesses of the forests and swamps where many of these species make their homes. Here is a list of Floridian orchids that are known to be night-scented:

• Dendrophylax lindenii
• Dendrophylax porrectus
• Epidendrum amphistomum
• Epidendrum floridense
• Epidendrum magnoliae
• Epidendrum nocturnum
• Habenaria macroceratitis
• Habenaria odontopetala
• Habenaria quinqueseta
• Habenaria repens
• Tipularia discolor
  

And here is a list of species that are likely night-scented as well, extrapolating from their inconspicuously colored flowers:

• Epidendrum rigidum
• Epidendrum strobiliferum
• Habenaria distans
• Platanthera flava
• Platanthera clavellata

I would be interested to hear about anyone's experience around these species, whether or not they have a night fragrance as well.