Lady Slipper Flower Is The Best State Flower Of Minnesota
Lady slipper flower ”Cypripedium reginae” Or mn state flower is the state flower of our glorious state of Minnesota. It is a delicate white and pink flower and it grows mainly in shaded heavily wooded areas.
The lady slipper flower is a protected flower and is in danger of becoming extinct, due to the ever-expanding urban sprawl, taking out wooded areas of our wilderness.
I live in the state flower of Minnesota. I was born and raised here and will most likely live out the rest of my life here. We have many extremes in our weather patterns.
We get as cold as 45 degrees below zero in the winter and as high as 110 degrees in the summer with a great deal of humidity. The unpredictable weather is part of the reason I love this state.
The State Flower of Minnesota
Urban sprawl has claimed a great deal of property. As a result, the state flower the lady slipper flower is becoming extinct.
The northern third of the state had been an area of the wilderness until recently. This area has the vast majority of the 10,000 lakes that we are famous for.
What had been wilderness and wooded areas are now populated with lake homes and cabin getaways for people that live in the cities during the week and spend the weekends “up north”. This expansion is destroying the habitat for the lady slipper flower.
The Habitat of the Lady Slipper Flower
This is a delicate beautiful white and pink flower that grows in shaded heavily wooded areas. My father talks about seeing hundreds of them spread across the ground when he was a boy. Now there are very few people that will ever see a lady slipper flower in the wild.
The flower needs to reseed itself in order to come up again the next year. So many people used to pick the unusual lady slipper flower. Once the flower is picked it will not come back again the next year.
Steep Fines For Harming The State Flower Of Minnesota
There are now steep fines for picking, digging, or in any way harming this flower. Because it is the state flower people are intrigued by wanting to find one. Many times the very act of looking for one may destroy the small plants as they try to grow.
Some of the state parks will fence off an area where the plants are growing so that people can see them and take pictures without damaging the plant.
To me, it would make sense to choose a flower that is more prevalent across a greater portion of the state to be the state flower.
If we would have a different state flower maybe the stress on the lady slipper flower would decrease because people would not be obsessed with finding one.
I am considering growing some lady slipper flowers in our backyard. I just won’t tell anyone because the flowers might get damaged or stolen by intruders into our property.
I may try and grow it in a secluded part of the yard, away from the garden and under the trees, so it doesn’t draw attention.
Most people will not know that we have lady slipper flowers in our backyard, because we won’t tell them.
We need to draw less attention so that we can protect the lady’s slipper flower.
you can buy lady slipper flowers from the Amazon store here:
