June 7 – Yellow Lady Slipper

Tucked in the woods near Jay Cooke State Park, the yellow lady slippers lead the annual display of yellow, pink, and showy lady slippers as they take turns blossoming through June.

A Yellow Lady’s Slipper seed can take 10–15 years before the plant produces its first flower, and some plants can live 50 years or more. When you see one blooming along a forest trail, it may have been there for decades.

The flower itself is a natural insect trap. The pouch-shaped slipper is not just for looks. Insects crawl into the pouch and cannot climb back out because the inside walls are slippery. The only exit forces the insect to crawl past the pollen, which it carries to the next flower—a perfectly designed pollination system.

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.” — Ezekiel 36:26

Like the lady slipper, change often happens slowly and quietly, but in time, something beautiful appears where we least expect it.