O Canada! Winnipeg (and South a bit), Manitoba — Day 10 — 2014-07-12

Day 10 – Walter Ezell and I got up early to make the two-hour trip south from Winnipeg, Manitoba to just on the other side of the little town of Gardenton. This the location of the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie preserve.

There was a lot of construction on the main road south out of Winnipeg, so it took us a bit longer than normal. But, we made all the correct turns and finally reached the gravel road which marked the entrance to the preserve. We had come to see Platanthera praeclara or Western Prairie Fringed orchid. It is the largest fringed orchid in North America, and with great foresight, the Nature Conservancy of Canada has protected over 2000 hectares (~5000 acres) of remaining prairie for all to study and enjoy. This remnant of prairie is only about .05% of the 2500 square miles(~6000 square km that used to be natural prairie.

Walter and I had been fortunate to visit this site in 2005, when the Native Orchid Conference had held its annual meeting in Winnipeg. BTW, if you are in the least bit interested in learning about North America’s spectacular native orchids, the link I just provided has information about joining the group. I highly recommend doing so. One of the annual symposium’s field trips was to this preserve. I am as enthralled now as I was then of the prairie and its endangered orchids. Here is a closeup shot of a single flower of Platanthera praeclara or Western Prairie Fringed orchid:

When we reached the turnoff to the preserve, lo and behold, right there in the ditch, was a huge Western Prairie Fringed orchid plant in bloom! I could tell that this was going to be a good day… Here is a shot of Walter photographing this 3-foot (1 meter) tall beauty:

Here are a few more shots of this spectacular orchid plant — this one with Walter’s hand behind it for scale:

We had parked right at the entrance to take those photographs, so we got back into the car and began driving down the well-maintained gravel road. In no time at all, we began to see Western Prairie Fringed orchids in the ditches on both sides of the road. These plants were not as large as the first one we saw at the turnoff, but they were just as beautiful. Here is Walter, set up on the edge of the ditch photographing one of the orchid plants. The strange headgear is for protection from the wind and from annoying insects:

Here is a full-length shot of one of the plants:

We packed our gear and headed up the gravel road until we saw a sign off to the left:

Signs such as this one are scattered over the property signifying its original owner. Obviously, the Nature Conservancy of Canada had to either purchase the property or obtain environmental easements in order to protect this fragile environment. Otherwise, the owners would naturally use the property for agricultural purposes or graze cattle on it.

Soon, we reached an intersection where we made a right turn. The main preserve is rimmed with gravel roads. There is a circuit one can make that is about one mile square. We turned at this first intersection and then stopped to take a few pictures of the surrounding prairie:

What a lovely expanse of grassland dotted here and there by clumps of trees…

We continued on around the loop until we reached the next intersection and made another right turn. On the left, we saw an unprotected portion of the prairie that was the home to a herd of cattle:

Now, here is where I’m a bit confused. I know that in historic times, the land was visited by herds of bison, which obviously grazed on the prairie. I do not know what effect it had on the prairie plants, but I suspect that it was probably a beneficial one. Could cattle grazing not have such an equal effect, as well? I wonder… Perhaps one of you (dear readers) will know the answer to this and leave it in the comments section at the end of the blog.

*** Update: As I had hoped, a few of my knowledgable readers chimed in (see comments below) with the answer.

At this point, we began to see quite a few orchids in the ditches on both sides of the road. Here is a shot of one expanse with at least ten blooming plants:

This was a great area to stop and get some closeups of the orchids. Out of the dozens of plants that we photographed, I will select a few that best show some of the differences in the shape and thickness of the fringed lip:

Here is a shot of the prairie behind the ditch full of orchids:

How many orchid plants can you see? Well, I can see only a single one, way out in the prairie. Now, I’m thinking that maybe it’s too dry out there, since the orchids seem to be doing so well in the wetter ditches. Go figure…

About this time our companion, Nancy Goodman, from our Churchill trip showed up just down the road. She asked if we had seen the strange Milkweed back up the road. We told her that we had not seen it and that we would follow her back to the spot if she would show it to us. So, here we go back down the gravel road and around the corner. About a mile later, at the other corner, there they were along the edge of the road. I don’t know how I manage to miss such a gorgeous plant:

This is Asclepias speciosa or Showy Milkweed. It’s very easy to see how it got its common name. This was a new one for me, and since I love the Milkweed species, I had to set up and photograph this one. My Goodness, what a beautiful flower, and the fragrance was stong and very sweet:

We finished photographing this plant and headed back down the loop to where we had been photographing the Western Prairie Fringed orchids in the ditch. But, just before we reached that second turn, I noticed a group of Showy Milkweeds in the ditch on the right. How did I possibly miss these on the first pass? The flowers in this group looked a bit different from the first one we photographed. I understand that this species will hybridize with another Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca or Common Milkweed, but I don’t know if this was the hybrid or not. In any case, it too, was a knockout:

How could it be any prettier?

We eventually made it back to the ditch, and as we were wandering around, I found the largest orchid plant of the day. Unfortunately, it was growing right in front of a leafy shrub of some sort, and I was not able to get it completely isolated from the background. But here it is, anyway:

That is Nancy’s hand behind it for scale.

After spending a bit more time at this spot, we decided to drive on down to where the gravel road intersects the paved highway that leads back west to Gardenton. But just before that intersection, is the turnoff to the “official” part of the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie preserve. We took the turnoff and were soon at a grassy parking lot where we could park in the shade under some trees.

We took the trail to a kiosk that had some brochures and explained the trail system:

The trail got its name from the gigantic, inland lake (Lake Agassiz) which occupied the area in historic times. According to Wikipedia, “Its area was larger than all of the modern Great Lakes [northern United States] combined, and at times it held more water than contained by all [fresh water] lakes in the world today.”

After reading the information, we wandered out along the first part of the trail. We could see a few, scattered, Western Prairie Fringed orchids in the distance, but again, the display was nothing like what we saw earlier in the ditches. The flat prairie seemed quite dry, and again, I wondered if this difference in hydrology plays some importance in the appearance of the orchids…

We finished up our visit to the site while Nancy ate her lunch at one of the picnic tables near the parking area. Nancy is an avid birder, and when we came back to the car, she had her binoculars trained on a tiny gray speck up in the trees. 😉 Walter and I chatted with her for a bit, then we said our goodbyes, but we knew we would be seeing her in a day or so at the Native Orchid Conference symposium in Lake Itasca, Minnesota.

Another wonderful excursion to a place with plenty of history and wonderful orchids! This is an area that is easily accessible and available to anyone willing to take the time to visit. It is only a few miles from the U.S. border, and I think it is well worth a trip if you are in the northern Minnesota or North Dakota area in mid-July.

–Jim