BLT Kids Corner

We invite young people to submit short stories and photos about their experiences out on our preserves (with their parents' permission, of course)!  Send your best stuff to info@bangorlandtrust.org for a chance to be featured on this page.



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Lady’s Slipper Flowers

Lady’s Slippers are also known as Moccasin-flowers and are a unique member of the Orchid family which require highly specific habitats in order to grow. They are VERY rare, so please do not pick or dig them up - in fact, it is against the law to do so.

George Elliott and Gail Downs will be hosting a Lady's Slipper Walk on Saturday, June 1 at the Walden-Parke Preserve to share their knowledge of this beautiful wildflower. For the past three years they have seen hundreds of Lady’s Slippers on trails there - mostly pink and white ones. Join them at 10 am. The walk will begin and end at the kiosk at the end of Tamarack Trail (in Walden-Parke Preserve off of Essex Street). As the area is wet, we strongly suggest boots and bug protection. Remember to stay on the trails - take home only photos and memories in order to protect the delicate ecology of the preserve.

This is what to look for:
Pink Lady’s Slipper:  Leafless stalk usually bearing one flower, red veined, fissure down the front, approximately 2.5 inches long, height 6 – 15 inches.  Leaves are up to 8 inches long.  Lady’s Slippers are found from Nova Scotia to Georgia and Alabama to Tennessee.  

Showy Lady’s Slipper:  Hairy, often twisted leafy stalk having 1 – 3 flowers with white and pink petals.  The flowers are 1 – 2 inches long with white/rose-pink in front, often veined with purple or deep pink.  Leaves are up to 10 inches and a height of 1 – 3 ft.  They grow in swamps and moist woods.  They are the tallest of northern orchids.