Native Lady Slipper Orchid and Trillium Drop Earrings

If you have ever come across native lady slipper orchids growing wild in the forest, you have crossed paths with magical little beings. It is rare to see them. It is a special treat when you do. And once you know their secrets, you will never look at the forest floor the same way again.

The Lady Slipper's Secret

Most people believe that lady slipper orchids are illegal to dig up and transplant. That is actually not true. Nobody talks much about the fact that they are not a protected species, because the assumption stops some people from trying to bring one home. And the truth is far more fascinating than a law.

Lady slipper orchid seeds are almost impossibly tiny, so small you can barely see them. They are this small because the seed contains no food source whatsoever for the germinating plant, which is extremely unusual in the plant world. Instead the orchid relies entirely on a microscopic fungus to attach to the seed, break it open, and feed the tiny plant until the day it finally flowers. Without that fungus in exactly the right place in the soil the seed simply cannot germinate. It will not grow. It will not survive.

Here is the extraordinary part. We do not yet know where this fungus comes from or how to cultivate it. That is why you almost never see pink lady slipper orchids for sale. The most knowledgeable growers in the world cannot get them to germinate. So when you find one growing wild in the forest, you are looking at a plant that found the exact right balance of sunlight and shade, the precise amount of moisture, and its own tiny microscopic fungal friends living in exactly the right spot beneath its feet. It found everything it needed in that one perfect place. And there it stayed.

Once the orchid is established and flowering it gives back to the fungus by allowing it to feed from its roots. A symbiotic relationship built on conditions we cannot recreate and barely understand. Is that not magical?

The Trillium's Story

Growing alongside the lady slipper in each earring is a trillium, one of 39 native trillium species found across the United States. Sometimes called toadshade because of its toad sized umbrella leaves, it is one of spring's very earliest wildflowers to bloom, staying dormant in the cold soil until just enough warmth arrives to wake it up.

Trilliums know exactly what they are doing when it comes to attracting pollinators. They produce no nectar at all, only pollen. And they smell terrible on purpose, attracting the beetles and flies that are their specific pollinators with an odor that most other creatures would rather avoid. Their seeds travel the forest in the bellies of mice and on the backs of ants, spreading slowly and quietly through the understory year after year.

The Earrings

Inside each sterling silver teardrop frame a lady slipper orchid and a trillium grow together among clusters of hand carved mushrooms, each one different from the next with its own textured cap and delicate stem. Every single element was carved from the silver and made entirely from scratch. At the top of each earring a teardrop shaped vesuvianite stone glows with that intense vivid green of the spring forest at its most alive.

Each earring is about 3 inches long from the sterling silver ear wire and they are completely mismatched in the way that nature is, each one its own tiny ecosystem with its own arrangement of flowers and fungi.

• Length: About 3 inches from ear wire
• Stones: Light green vesuvianite teardrops
• Material: Sterling silver throughout
• Style: French wire dangle earrings

One of a Kind

There is only one pair of these earrings in the world. When they find their home they will never be made again exactly like this.

A Note from Tamara

I made these earrings because lady slipper orchids stop me completely every time I find one. There is something about knowing everything that had to align perfectly just for that one plant to exist in that one spot that makes finding it feel like an absolute privilege. I wanted to pair them with trilliums because they share that same quiet magic of the early spring woodland floor, two plants that know exactly what they need and refuse to grow anywhere that is not exactly right. I hope whoever wears these feels a little of that magic every time they put them on.

Shipping

Your earrings are finished, packaged sweetly, and will be on their way to you within 3 to 5 business days.