Under construction!
Research on the Mountain Lady's Slipper, Cypripedium montanumRoger and Jane have been involved in the study of C. montanum for several years.
Field Trip to Eastern Oregon
About five years ago I heard about GROWISER from a friend who told me it was a place I had to see if I were interested in terrestrial orchids. She told me hundreds of orchids were blooming throughout the forest at this location. Wild orchids in eastern Oregon? I had heard there were Lady’s Slipper orchids years ago in Washington and Oregon but rare now. It sounded too good to be true. Nonetheless, I got a name and email address to find out more about it and where exactly it is.
GROWISER – Grande Ronde Overlook Wildflower Institute Serving Ecological Restoration – is a nonprofit foundation established in 1993 by Andrew (Andy) Huber, Ph.D., professor at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande, OR and Founder and General Manager of GROWISER . The Institute is located a few miles south of Elgin off Oregon State Highway 82 and about 15 miles north of La Grande. The Institute has three primary objectives:
1) To established and maintain a 200-acre native plant preserve;
2) To research restoration techniques, including field establishment and seed production of native species, control of introduced plants, and serve as a germplasm source of native plants, and make species available to commercial seed producers;
3) To provide ecological education opportunities.
In the past ten years, the institute has developed harvestable quantities of five species of native grasses from which commercial seed has been obtained from four species. In addition, Dr. Huber has been reseeding the forested area of the property with Cypripedium montanum, a native of this area, as well as eastern WA, ID, MT, and British Columbia, Canada. [More information on Dr. Huber’s direct work with C. montanum can be found in Native Plants Journal, Spring 2003.]
The GROWISER setting is breath-taking. From the property one sees mountains south and west, a farming valley stretching toward La Grande, and rolling hills of trees, pasture, and some crops to the east. The preserve is about 3,000 to 3,500 ft above sea level, about one-half prairie and one-half forested area, primarily conifers (Ponderosa Pine and Douglas Fir) and deciduous trees. The prairie is composed of planted native grasses and wild native flowers.
C. montanum prefers partial shade; it does not grow well in open sunshine or long exposure to deep shade. We found the greatest number of individual plants or small groups in grassy areas under stands of young pine several feet apart, allowing some light at different times of the day. Nonetheless, a few clumps of older C. montanum were in deeper shade as one might expect over time as the trees and brush grow larger.
On our first trip to GROWISER , we were “wowed” by the hundreds of orchids throughout the forest. We took many photographs and have several favorites, one we use our note cards. The second time we were there, we were excited too, but noticed a variation in flowers from one location compared to other locations. We actually did not think about this very much before we were driving home and thought we should look more closely at our photographs. We did see variation in the color of the dorsal and lateral petals. Some petals (on same plant) were dark cinnamon color while others were light cinnamon. Some lateral petals were relatively short while others were long and hung downward in relative tight spirals. At first, I thought most of the darker petals had longer petals, but we noticed long, lighter petals also our our next visit.
Being inquisitive, we decided that on our third trip to GROWISER in June 2003 we would tag plants with these various phenotypic characteristics. We made a few hand-pollinations, but it was too late to find flowers that one could guarantee as not already naturally pollinated. Nonetheless, we want to collect the seeds and grow them out to maturity and see if these characteristics are carried over into the next generation. Of course, you will hear more about this later … especially if we are successful!