Jim,
I discovered the wild Lily Patch some years ago and knowing that our Cyp acaule in Pennsy always bloom together with them, I then took a closer look. I almost flipped my lid when I saw them .
I have been tracking them now at least 7 years. They have shifted a bit upwards on their slope, but they have not diminished in numbers. Imagine, this is right on a bike path. I am happy nobody sees them, or they would surely be gone by now.

gorgeous! We had both of these at my childhood home just west of Boston..this photo brings back fond memories of picking the lilly of the valley...we never touched the ladies slippers though!

Ursula, is there a native plant society that could keep an eye on them? Our local group keeps track of special plant populations and stays aware of development that might compromise the colony. Often they will rescue a portion and move them to a known "safe" spot.

I honestly don't know, Alice. I never looked into that, either here in NJ or at our place in Pennsy.
So far, all the places were we see "plants of value" seem fairly save. Today's posted stand is pretty invisible to most people, you really have to know what you are looking for. And it is not in any danger of being bulldozed, the slope is way to steep and houses are much set back.
We similarly discovered a gigantic stand of Spiranthes cernua on Rt 380 in PA some years ago. In a good year one might see more than a thousand blooming Orchids on a slope right next to the highway. Luckily it is too steep to be mowed!! I would be afraid giving out the exact location, fearing that people might start digging.
To the stands of Cyp acaule and other Orchids at our Pennsy place - they are so well hidden, it took US some years to find exact locations. Comparing it to needles in haystacks is about right. Sometimes we protect rarer emerging plants with a cage, so the Deer don't nibble them away.

You're right not to give the locations! People will poach anywhere there aren't guards 24/ 7.

That is why our native plant groups rescue some and replant in the most protected spots. They never want the whole colony to be lost to some wacko. We have a terrible problem with the poaching of our native carnivorous plants here. If there weren't some hidden away and protected the whole species would be gone.

Well here is a walk in Cherokee Village, Ar. yesterday, you can see Iris that were planted about 50 years ago. Many heirlooms and unk varieties but attest to hardiness since this was an old gravel pit and cleared timber wasteland in 1950.

Your park is really nice, Bert. Who maintains it?

Jim

That is a lovely park and that Buckeye is a WOW.

Pretty park to take a walk!

Really nice, Bert. Love those irises. I just got home from my "other" garden in Salt Lake City where the irises are just starting to put up buds. Now I have to bug my daughter to send me pictures of all the gorgeous iris I've bought and planted for her.

I don't think anyone has done anything but rake this area in quite a while. I don't see any newer var of anything. A lot of memorial stones, after all this is an old retirement village.

On my walk through the Chalk Creek yesterday, I spotted some Desert Peach in full bloom. I have been trying for 3 years to start one and haven't succeeded yet. The desert is GREEN this year - I don't think I have seen it this lush in quite a few years.

Bitterbrush - native to the west coast

Desert Peach - native to the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountains

The green desert

Creek Dogwood - native to the west coast


Daisy

The desert sure is gorgeous when it's green, isn't it. The desert peach is lovely, does it bear fruit?

The mountainsides around Salt Lake are very green this year, too. They've had rain almost every day for the last week. (I'm really happy about this because I planted a whole lot of stuff in my daughter's garden that might have dried out without the rain)

The fruit is like an almond: thin husk, hard as a rock shell and a little nut in the middle. The rabbits love them.

I was going to ask you if the Utah desert was green this year.

Daisy

This is a sad post that even brings tears to my eyes. Citrus greening has wiped out almost all of the citrus in central Florida. This includes the commercial groves as well as garden growers like myself. What you see here is the remains of the last citrus grove in my neighborhood. Sad, so sad.



Jim

That's so sad, Jim! Our orange groves went to developers years ago, but the county has put traps in my lemon tree twice now. They never say why or what the results are. That lemon tree was old when I moved here 28 years ago, and I'm getting a lot of silver skinned lemons lately. I don't know if it's citrus silver mites or citrus greening, but it seems to be getting worse. No problem with the lime...yet.

yes, sad indeed...and there's nothing to be done, other than cut the trees and burn them?

That is a truly distressing sight.

Happily, there is hope on the horizon for a remedy for citrus greening. It won't save the currently infected trees though. We'll have to re-plant but at least new trees may not become infected. You never know, it may save some of the commercial groves in California and Texas anyway.

My key lime has pretty much given up the ghost, and my little kumquat is hanging on but not looking good. I asked the Extension expert, Gene McEvoy last time he was at our office what to say when people have a tree that's infected and he said "I'm just keeping mine going as long as it will survive". The disease is so widespread now that the boffins have given up trying to arrest the spread by making people cut their trees down.

Your trees may yet die of old age, Carol.