Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Friday, October 17, 2008
Wild Orchids and Other Fairy Tales
Last weekend, I discovered a third species of orchid growing wild in the woods. Or should I say orchid foliage? Because that's all I've seen of them so far.
This one has foliage attractive enough to stand on its own even if it never flowers. I'm fairly sure it's Goodyeara pubescens aka Downy Rattlesnake Plantain, on the right next to Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens). I can't watch these every minute to see when they flower, although it might be fun to try. I don't think the the suspected Ladyslipper bloomed this year (but I may have missed it), and the Cranefly Orchid bloomed and was eaten before I got to see it. And this newly discovered one is said to bloom anytime from June to August, so it'll be a while before I can hope to see any flowers there. But I believe there will be flowers eventually.
A garden fairy tale dropped into my inbox this morning. I get weekly emails from Dover books with sample pages to download, and one of the books featured this week was Once Upon a Time...: A Treasury of Classic Fairy Tale Illustrations. This illustration intrigued me.
The caption reads "Don't drink!" cried out the little princess, springing to her feet; "I would rather marry a gardener!" I'd never heard of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", but if it involves princesses marrying gardeners it must be a good story. You can read a version of it at SurLaLune, but in that version the hero is a soldier, not a gardener. Searching online, I found a snippet from the version for which our illustration was created. It originally appeared in a book titled In Powder and Crinoline by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch, illustrated by Kay Nielsen. Some of the other stories appear to involve gardening too - "Felicia: or, The Pot of Pinks" and "The Czarina's Violet". Has anyone read this book? I don't know any of these fairy tales and I'd love to know more about the book. Continuing my search, I found that the gardener version of the story appeared in The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang, but the language isn't quite as poetic as the snippet from the Quiller-Couch book.
And staying with the subject of fantasy, another Kay Nielsen illustration from the Quiller-Couch book looks just like fantasy me standing in front of my fantasy cottage in my fantasy garden. Well...maybe there would be fewer cabbages...
6 Comments:
What a funny day! Twitters about Cinderella and books about princesses - too bad they're just Barbies and Halloween costumes these days ;-]
It's many years since I read the 12 Dancing Princesses - the version we had was simpler and had different illustrations without the 'rather marry a gardener' line! I read it with my younger sisters and always loved the part about dancing their shoes to tatters. When my daughter once danced a hole in a new pair at a wedding, it reminded me of the story.
Long ago a nun used to write "Orchids to you!" on well-done homework. I hope you'll have orchids and ladyslippers next year, Entangled!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
I am totally unfamiliar with the fairy tale..12 Dancing Princesses! I did pop over to see your fantasy cottage...it was certainly cute!
How very exciting to find even the leaves of these elusive orchids! I remember coming upon Lady Slippers on the Fiery Gizzard Trail in Tennessee. No camera then! Perhaps you will see them sometime and will share their photos with us.
Gail
Gail
Funny story about partridgeberries. I've posted the same plant on bloomingwriter, but in Newfoundland where I come from, what they call partridge berry is Vaccinium vitas-ideae, or lingonberry, a cranberry relative. And they're so delicious.
The story of the dancing princesses...wow, I hadn't thought about that story for more years than I want to admit. Thank you for that trip down memory lane.
Annie: It's so interesting to go back to the pre-TV-and-movie era and look at the old illustrations for fairy tales that I think I know. For me, anyway, these stories are most familiar in their mass-marketed form. But the Twelve Dancing Princesses I didn't know at all.
Your daughter really danced a hole in her shoe?!? That must have been some wedding!
Gail: I think the fantasy cottage illustration was for "The Pot of Pinks", another fairy tale I didn't know at all.
Part of my trouble with the wild orchids is that they bloom when I'm busy in the vegetable garden and I forget to go back in the woods and look. Next year!
Jodi: Glad to see you out and about! I've had pancakes with lingonberry sauce, and they were delicious. Wonder if the Mitchella berry is humanly edible?
Ooooh...how fun to find such exotic wildflowers! I'd be more than excited to find ones like that in our wooded areas!
Kylee: I need to do another post. I went back to look at this orchid foliage again and couldn't find it. I fear it has been eaten :-(
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