There are seven (recognized) species of fringed orchids in New York and two hybrids. Two controversial species are discussed as well. Our two most common species are P. blephariglottis and P. lacera, the others being rather local in distribution, some extremely rare, and one extirpated. The flowers of ragged fringed orchid (P. lacera) vary from white to somewhat greenish and have a highly dissected lip. This species occurs in the widest range of habitats, sometimes occurring in open areas of swamps and in fens, but often in wet meadows, pastures, old fields and occasionally even in lawns. It d ..read more

For a number of years I have been growing the two common eastern species of Monarda, M. didyma and M. fistulosa. Monarda didyma (scarlet beebalm or Oswego tea) is an important early summer food source for ruby-throated hummingbirds. It begins flowering in late June but continues into July. Flowers of Monarda didyma being visited by a male ruby-throated hummingbirdFlowers of Monarda fistulosa The flowering period overlaps with the start of flowering of M. fistulosa (wild bergamot) so there is opportunity for hybridization between the two species. Their preferred habitats, however, differ quite ..read more

This rare hybrid has been reported in the literature a few times but has never been given a formal name. To see for myself what it looks like, a couple years ago I manually deposited pollen from Geum canadense onto several flowers of Geum aleppicum at a site where both occur. I marked the flowers that had been pollinated and returned later in the season to collect seeds. I was able to grow out about 30 plants from the seeds and at the end of June of this year they finally bloomed. While the majority of plants appear to be straight G. aleppicum, one plant is an obvious hybrid. Success! Overall ..read more

Several years ago I started unknown Hibiscus from seed assuming it would be H. moscheutos. Each year the plants would grow about 5 feet tall but never flowered. One finally flowered this year and something seemed a bit odd about it. I believe it Hibiscus laevis, a related species with narrower, often hastate leaves that are smooth on the lower surface, and flowers with darker red centers. Would include a picture of the leaves but they have been badly eaten by caterpillars. Just happened to pass a large population of Hibiscus moscheutos a couple days ago so I made a run out to get photos of ..read more