The Heat is Thick but Orchids are Blooming

A double Platanthera day.

Up close and personal with Platanthera cristata.

I did not want to get out of bed Sunday morning. We came home from Iceland a week ago with a non-covid virus that morphed into a sinus infection that has since evolved into something that has decided it never wants to leave my body and thus continues to drip snot from my nose and rattle around phlegm in my upper lungs a few times a day when I attempt to hack it out.

NyQuil seems to keep it at bay at night, long enough to let me sleep without feeling like I’m drowning in my own sinus secretions. The downside to that medicine is that you tend to wake up feeling like you slept with a ton of bricks on top of you. Groggy is an understatement.

But awaken I did, because we had a lineup of adventures to maneuver in the Big Thicket. I haven’t done any hiking for the book since mid-June and seeing as I’m coming up on five months left to turn this book in, things are about to get real. I don’t have much left to hike, in all honesty. The downside is that most everything left is in a mosquito haven that I have zero interest in being in at the moment. September can’t come soon enough.

We made a rotation starting at the Lance Rosier Unit of the Big Thicket National Preserve. We did not see any of the orchids featured in this post there, though I have no doubt they exist somewhere—there’s habitat for them out there. The Lance Rosier Unit is for rugged explorers of the Thicket. You will want mud boots, a backpack filled with water and food, and a GPS before you head off into the wilds of that unit. Trails? What trails? Honestly, this kind of exploration is my favorite but not in late July with deer flies, heat index warnings, and a dripping nose. This was a checklist trip. *check, done* The Lance Rosier Unit has been visited. The reality is, I will definitely make another trip to this unit before the book is wrapped up but I needed a cursory visit in order to do my write-up for this section.

Next, we had a short side excursion to visit a population of Asclepias lanceolata, fewflower milkweed, for seeds—not in the Thicket…Top Secret Location. Said Top Secret Location was scorching and out in the open and I regretted agreeing to visit the site almost immediately. I stuck it out but resolved never to return this time of year without a hiking umbrella. Lots of stops for sips of Gatorade were had. My bandana was filthy from snot and sweat by the time all was said and done.

Respite was found in the confines of the truck after, with the a/c blasting as we made our way toward the Big Thicket headquarters and a restroom break before hitting up the Watson Rare Native Plant Preserve for a quick tour. I’m on the board of directors for WRNPP but haven’t been out there since late April or early May. Summer always brings its own chaos and out there was no different. All of the rain we had in spring and early summer brought abundant growth and so many different delights of blooms could be seen from the trails at the preserve.

Platanthera champanii, Chapman’s fringed orchid.

I haven’t been at the preserve when the Chapman’s fringed orchids were blooming in several years so my sluggish brain woke up when I rounded a corner on the boardwalk and found an orchid in bloom, and then another, and another. And so on down the boardwalk. Chris and I quickly assessed that we absolutely needed to burn further down the boardwalk next fire season than we did this year. The orchids are being choked out by shrubby vegetation. It happens so quickly, too. A year or two without a good burn in a certain area and the shrubs (really, the problem is ti-ti, Cyrilla racemiflora) take hold and start shading everything out.

My time at WRNPP is never long enough. It’s either a volunteer work day or a wildflower walk for a few hours and then lunch in Warren and off to adventures afield in the Thicket, or driving the two hours west back home in Houston. Some day I would like to manage to spend the day and do some plein air painting or reading a book on the cabin’s back porch. If you are interested in seeing the Chapman’s fringed orchids yourself, you can always drop by any time (free!) this week or next for peak blooming but we do have a wildflower walk hosted by orchid botanist and author Joe Liggio this Saturday, August 2nd, at 10:30 am. 527 Co Rd 4777, Warren, TX 77664 Bring a hat and some water!

Chapman’s fringed orchids in the foreground with Geraldine’s iconic cabin in the background.

Finally, after lunch in Woodville, we made our way to our final stop for the day. Thunder rumbled in the distance and the sky grew blue-gray and heavy with rain. The radar showed passing thunderstorms that we managed to dodge before arriving to the plant I’ve been trying to see for a few years now, Platanthera cristata, the crested orange bog orchid.

Several years ago we found leaves and plants in seed at this location while viewing another rare plant in this same habitat. I managed to figure out which orchid species it was and put together the phenology for bloom times, very late July, but could never get my schedule to coincide with a free weekend to come out to see them blooming. This year I made it a priority because I wanted them in my book.

All of the older literature for the Big Thicket refers to so many different rare and uncommon species that have only become even more rare and uncommon since the creation of the BTNP in 1974. Some species were only very rarely seen in some units anyway, not across a wide swath of the region. It’s been tricky to balance what flora and fauna to showcase for each trail/park/tract within the book. I tend toward wanting to share all of the oddball stuff, the things only die-hards are going to want to see. But the reality is that a lot of the common stuff is just as interesting to see to every day hikers.

Summer adventuring in Texas isn’t for many people. Sometimes I don’t even know if it is for me anymore. Summer used to be my favorite season. My all-time favorite season is still winter in south Florida, though. Oh, to be able to make that happen all year long.

While I wait for it to cool off, I’ll take the micro adventures where I can, enjoy the orchids blooming, and donate some blood to the local mosquito and deer fly populations.

And bide my time until goldenrod season. It’s coming!