Elusive Lady Slipper Orchids

In our youth, Mother took great delight in finding and trying to transplant lady slipper orchids from the woods to her garden, but without success. Some decades ago, while walking in ridge woods we were amazed to stumble upon hundreds of these rare and elusive pink lady slippers. Since then we have found none, virtually eliminated we thought by increasing herds of deer, which browse upon them and any other eatable understory plant.
This morning, while looking for osprey nests in dead trees suffocated by Berkshire's hilltop beaver ponds, we again stumbled upon a paradise of lady slippers and sundry spring blossoms such as the white trillium. These delicate treasures have reinforced our sense that this spring has been almost perfect in its progression, with virtually every blossoming thing on schedule and present and accounted for, despite the abundant deer.
The elusive lady slipper prefers the rich, acid soils of our upland oak and pine forests and quartzite ledges, where filtered spring sunshine warms boggy soils and fosters another rare sight of Berkshire lady slippers.