It is a little later than usual this year, but lady’s slippers are back in bloom at Acadia National Park.

Lady’s slippers are showing their pink and white colors in June in Acadia National Park.

Our friend Maureen took the above photo of the orchids on Monday during a hike in the park. The photo shows a large colony of pink and white lady’s slippers growing in the shade of a boulder and pine in a hidden spot in Acadia.

“Beautiful!,” is the way Maureen described them.

These same orchids were not blooming when we visited the park and found their stalks and double green leaves on a glorious day on May 31.

We first noticed this colony of lady’s slippers in 1999 when we hiked the park’s trails for the first edition of “Hiking Acadia National Park.”

About ten years later, we found them again for the second edition of the book. We’ve been going back to see them every year since as a kind of rite of late spring for us.

The lady’s slipper has a long history.

Some Indian tribes of the eastern U.S. and Canada used the roots of the orchids – or moccasin flowers – as medicine herbs.

With their color and beauty, a lady’s slipper can still heal a lot of wounds.