This is not a pretty picture; I admit it. Still it makes me happy

Because those are the Orchis/Ponerorchis graminifolia that I planted last spring and there's more plant material there than there was when they went dormant sometime last summer. No flowers, I admit, but we've got to start somewhere.

When I mentioned to a friend, Carol Allen, who knows a lot about orchids that we had three plants in the ground and that one had flowered she responded, "you'll never see them again." So I'm glad they are alive and have grown. Not to spite Carol, but because possibly we stumbled onto a site where this plant can live. Another Carole (Bordelon) described the region she had seen them in in China as an area with dry springs and hot summers. Well....we don't have dry springs but we do have bed "U" which is de facto dry due to all the maple roots. And we have hot summers so we went for it. I only hope that next year I'll have pictures of flowers to post. Or at least more leaves.