I have had this plant coming up in a corner of the garden for a few years. I usually pull it out when it’s small, but last year I overlooked it and it managed to grow unnoticed and start to flower. At that point, instead of tearing it out, I let the flowers open so that I could figure out exactly what it was.
And wasn’t I surprised when the teeny tiny (about the size of the fingernail on my pinky finger) flowers opened up and turned out to be a type of orchid!
Granted, it’s technically a weed that is non-native, and has naturalized across much of North America.
But it’s still an orchid, albeit and extremely tiny one.
I now have another one growing about six feet to from the first and I didn’t touch them this spring. The flowers are “just” starting to open, and they start opening from the bottom, so getting a photo was particularly challenging given their position at the back of the bed.
So this is about the best I could do.
https://goorchids.northamericanorchidcenter.org/species/epipactis/helleborine/
4 comments