Orchid markers

Went out with my scythe and a rake this afternoon and cut back another patch of what I had let grow wild last year, in aid of the spread of wild angelica and northern marsh orchids (as well as the usual meadow buttercups and lesser spearworts). Being at the boggy bottom of the Boggy Brae, there was a good deal of rush and moss. Having cut and raked I poked around in search of signs of orchids. It's none of your big rosettes such as people are finding further south of early purple orchids, just the tiniest of pointed shoots down in the deep moss. I did not mark the ones I found down there but I did give ones on the back terrace some protection from careless feet. In the third picture, the orchid shoot is a wee blob in the top left corner.

 

I use bricks here because under all that moss and daisy rosette world is gravel and concrete so sticks can't go in very far. Below is a pic of the boggy bottom garden in June last year showing how I mowed around stuff.

The main northern marsh orchid patch is below the stand of Iris pseudacorus. The flowers in the bottom right of the b&w photo, which I like because it shows the slope of that part of the brae so well (it's steeper up to the right where the shadows are), are devil's bit scabious.