Very few people realize that Alaska not only has wild orchids, it has over 30 species - that's more than Hawaii has.

I was walking along the road that makes the edge of my property and lo and behold, I found one of our native orchids. Strangely enough, it's called the Alaska Orchid, (Platanthera unalascensis). :)

Here are some pictures. The first of these are not great because I was literally being eaten alive by mosquitos! I was taking pictures 'for the record', not 'art'.






I went back today to get some good pictures of the flowers and foliage. (Got in a spitting match with someone over what species it is. I won.)








And finally, for all you arachnophobes out there:


Paul

Great pictures! I'm not afraid of spiders at all, however I got nailed by a brown recluse in bed one night in the old trailer. The bite was painless but I still have a spot on my back of my leg that never heals completely. Several doctors have looked at it and all shrug and say live with it.......I do.

I "hate" spiders. They're ALL poisonous, and they hide in creepy places (they're creepy BECAUSE spiders hide there!), and they bite indiscriminately. Kill spiders. Kill parasites. Like ticks and roundworms and heartworms and ... Because the idiot psycho-babblers, hand-in-hand with the scumbag Press, have 'co-opted' yet another word - "phobia" - into a meaning other than REAL - "hate" vs "fear" - I admit to being an "arachnophobe". I am "afraid" of them in the dark, but I just "hate" them in the light.

I am reminded that you have Jack-in-the-Pulpit on your property, Rick. You should go look for them and get pictures while they are still in bloom and before they go to seed. Remember those "red berries" you took pictures of a few years back? Wherever that was, 'there be Jack-in-the-Pulpits'.

Paul

I'll give it a try when it dries out a bit......I also have to watch the hole in my leg where the Squamous was.

Beautiful flowers. They look a bit like "cosmos" flowers at first glance. I like some spiders. Especially jumping spiders or garden spiders. For some reason ticks & chiggers won't have anything to do with me. Mosquitoes & all other flying blood suckers love my blood. Nasty little devils .....Paul H