Spiranthes eatonii (Eaton's Ladies'-tresses orchid)

On Sunday, June 16, 2013, I met my photography buddy Kelvin Taylor in the Green Swamp, Brunswick County, North Carolina for a day trip to photograph orchids and whatever else we could find that was interesting.

The previous week, we had heard from a mutual friend, Neil Jacobs, that he had rediscovered Spiranthes eatonii (Eaton's Ladies'-tresses orchid) in the Green Swamp Preserve. This was good news since it had not been reliably recorded from the area in more than 50 years. I think that the consecutive anual prescribed burns of the savannah has had a lot to do with it being found.

After photographing the Ladies'-tresses orchids, Kelvin and I explored more of the grassy savannah. Soon, we found many Calopogn pallidus (Pale Grass-pink orchids) in an amazing range of colors.

Before leaving the area and heading home, we drove to Myrtle Head Savannah, to check out the recent (early May) prescribed burn. I've never seen so many Calopogon pallidus (Pale Grass-pink orchid) in one place. We even found the rare, pure white form. Removing the dense grass with a prescribed burn works wonders with wildflowers and orchids.

Finishing up, we drove over to a roadside site along Hwy. 130, east of Shallotte, North Carolina. Here we saw many color forms of Calopogon tuberosus (Common Grass-pink orchid) and one of the largest Venus' Fly-traps I've ever seen. Fortunately, it was also in flower...

To read more about this field trip and to see additional images, go to Jim's Blog.