July 2019, while hiking Fillmore Glen I photographed an interesting, till then unknown to me, plant growing on shale till beneath the gorge wall. Motivated by curiosity I identified it as Broad-leaved Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine), a wild orchid.

Using this information, I found the plant growing in our yard as a persecuted weed, observed closely a specimen surviving in a neglected nook and discovered the tiny face of an orchid flower.

2020, on my request, germinating plants with the same leaf form were spared weeding, even allowed to grow among the roses were the specimen of today’s photographs thrived.

Click photograph for a larger view and use Ctrl-x to zoom in closer.

I captured this and all following (posts) photographs of this orchid in late afternoon light, after the sun was behind the hemlock hedge to the west, mounting on a portable tripod made the shot possible in this light.

This specimen benefited from the ample fertilizer applied to the surrounding roses. Compare with the specimen photographed in Fillmore Glen, in post header. I needed to fit into a tight space, so the smaller tripod was used. The lens is a 50 mm, f-stop 5.6. I could open up the diaphragm to 1.2, though the additional blur would not improve the background very much (over f 5.6) at a cost of much of the plant out of focus. Each orchid is smaller than a “pinky” fingernail.

..to be continued.

Copyright 2019 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved