Plant Story -- Scentbottle Orchid, Platanthera dilatata

This post is about a native orchid, the scentbottle, Plantanthera dilatata (orchid family, Orchidaceae).

scentbottle orchid, Plantanthera dilatata

Plant Story--Coreopsis, Pretty Tickseeds

The bright yellow flowerhead nodded in the breeze, peeking out among a variety of leaves. Look! A coreopsis!

tickseed, Coreopsis grandiflora hybrid

Coreopsis is a genus of 35 species, most native to North America, in the daisy family, Asteraceae. They have the typical flower head structure of the family: a group of disc florets in the middle surrounded by ray florets which provide petals. Most are naturally some shade of yellow. Native ranges of the 28 species in the United States are mostly along the East Coast or California, but a few are found in every state. 

Gardeners discovered them long ago, so there are many color patterns and varieties, and the plant you see growing in a garden is probably a hybrid, not a natural species.

Rocky Mountain Wildflowers of July

It was a shady walk in the Colorado mountains at about 7000' elevation. Lots of wildflowers bloomed along the path. 

sidebells penstemon, Penstemon secundiflorus

One was sidebells penstemon (Penstemon secundiflorus, plantain family, Plantaginaceae), distinctive as a common species which has all its flowers on one side of the flower stalk. (Colorado has 61 species of Penstemon, often it is hard to determine which one you saw.)

Travel--Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Minneapolis-St. Paul

 I visited the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Chaska MN (website), at the end of April. I had heard about it for years and I had traveled with them on several excellent garden tours, so I was eager to see it. I found it was much more than I had expected. 

a magnolia in flower