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May 21, 1981 - Orchids Top the DaySECOND SECTION The *tlffolh Ttlnr� MAY 21, 1981 Orchids Top the Day Sunday afternoon was delightful. My wife and I had just returned to the airport at East Hampton from a weekend osprey count on Gardiner's Island. We were traveling along one of the back roads when Barbara spotted a patch of blue along the newly - greened roadside. Wildflowers have always been one of our weaknesses; and with ,the soft afternoon light on them, well, we just had to turn around and investigate. What it turned out to be was a mass of bird's -foot violets. This elegant spring violet, whose leaf gives it its name, covered the area in light blue. We have them right along the roadside near our home, but never in such profusion. Evidently they had been low enough to be missed by the roadmowers as they came by; they were barely three inches high. Thank goodness the cutter was set high enough. That reminds me of another cutter that was set high enough to save the day over on the island. Seems the road edges must continually be mowed to prevent the over- growing greenery from taking over and on one of the trails one of the mowers went over a woodcock's nest. The bird flew off at the last minute as the noisy machine approached, but the operator couldn't stop his machine soon enough. Upon investigating, he found four beautifully brown camouflaged eggs untouched in a nest. The mower had taken off all the cover and left the nest bare. What to do? A handful of dead winter grass was placed loosly above the nest and the operator went back to his work. Later we checked it out and the bird was back. At least we thought it was. The big round black eye was the only shape out of camouflage in the surrounding picture. The bill looked like a piece of stick and the beautifully feathered pattern of the bird's back blended in perfectly with the dry gass and leaves. Instinct had won over fear. Lupin Sighted Back in the car, our eyes were now tuned to wildflowers and we checked the road- side more carefully. Further along our eyes caught another blue cluster, but this time the flower was a tall column of blue. It was the familiar lupin that can be found along our dry roadsides, particularly around Riverhead and Manorville. This handsome legume is an easy one to grow by seed and should you see one on the roadside remember its location and go back in the fall to collect the seeds. Don't dig it up, but use the seeds and plant them in a dry, sunny, sandy area. Once established, they will require little care. It must have been the magic of the day,for we soon spotted not one but 10 beautiful lady's- slipper orchids growing along the roadside as we motored along. Again the car swung around and we had to get out, but this time we brought the cameras also. The sun backlit the fuzzy stems of this pale pink orchid and my camera clicked away, each time working closer and closer: As I lay prone on the ground with the warm sun on my back, I was reminded of a little booklet that our great naturalist, Roy Latham of Orient had written over 40 years ago. "Distribution of Wild Orchids on Long Island" is one of my prize possessions. Few people know that we have over 30 native orchids. Mr. Latham had found most of them and collected them in his herbarium. The crane -fly orchis PrIemi*lUxat Tractor ata Populir Price, The GT 2500 Silver Anniversary Commemorative Lawn and Garden Tractor. $1 70 Here's an opportunity you may never have again. A limited production edition of a quality 11 hp lawn and garden tractor. At an amazingly low price. It's the Wheel Horse GT 2500. And it's part of the Wheel Horse 25th Anniversary Celebration on now at participating dealers. ROLLE BROS. ROUTE 58, RIVERHEAD, L.I. 727 -4383 LADY'S- SLIPPER- -This pink orchid that grows in our area is the most common of the 30 or more orchids found on Long Island. Each year it becomes harder and harder to find. Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh which he found in Greenport in 1910 was one of the rarest plants in New York State. Most of the orchids are inconspicuous or difficult to find; they seem to be in out -of- the -way places. Many are in boggy, wet areas where few venture. All are terrestrial, which is to say they grow on the land and not on other plants as they do in the tropics. Lady's Slippers Everywhere Our pink lady's - slipper is probably the most commonly known because of its wide range of habitat. I've seen them under the great Cathedral Pines in Yaphank. I've seen them in the dry and wet areas around Riverhead and out in the great Pine Barrens. Just about any place that is undisturbed you can find these showy pink members of the orchid family. Yet because of their beauty, they are continually being sought out, picked, or even worse, dug up. To me they belong in Me woods. It's a wildflower and that's where it should be. Whenever I come across one, I just can't help bending down and admiring it. My first picture of this handsome orchid was taken with the help of an old bathroom mirror. I found a clump of them growing in the woods in back of our house down in Fleets Neck in Cutchogue and I wanted to photograph it with my new Kodak 35. In those days I had to put on a special portrait lens over my camera lens and then meticulously measure out a precise distance from the camera lens to the subject. Then with a little luck I'd aim the camera where I hoped to get the picture. The light was poor where the orchid grew so with the help of the bathroom mirror I reflected a light on the clump of lady's - slipper. I think there were five of them in that clump. That was a long long time ago and yet I think perhaps that was one of the pictures that hooked me on wildflowers. As I saw that lady's - slipper last Sunday in that late afternoon sunlight, it seemed again as fresh as the first one I'd ever seen. There's something special about or- chids, particularly wild ones in a native setting. We got back into the car and headed for the main road with its lines of weekenders heading home. I wondered how many visitors had time to see what we had seen. PAULSTOUTENBURGH NOW AT KINNEY...CHEVY'S NEW J CAR! 1982 CAVALIER Y CW � IN ME %VVICE PAM CHEVROLET -OLDS "Keep that great GM feeling with ROUTE 25 EAST RIVERHEAD 7271100 genuine GM parts" DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY AND SUMMER RENTALS AVAILABLE.