Risshytte hage, Naturreservat

Following the trail through the spruce forest and arriving at the marsh where the lady’s slipper blooms—that’s quite an experience! Be sure to visit in mid-June if you want to witness one of the county’s best floral spectacles. Anyone who has never seen a wild lady’s slipper before can’t help but be impressed! Photo: Dalarna County Administrative Board

The lady’s slipper, as well as other plants in the reserve, are sensitive to trampling. From May 15 to July 15, you must stay on marked trails and wooden walkways within the reserve.

A Stunning Flower Attracts Many

In the forest marsh—or “wet meadow,” as it’s called—grows the magnificent lady’s slipper orchid. Like all other orchid species, it is a protected species. It attracts large numbers of visitors to the area during its blooming season, which is in early to mid-June.

But being popular can also be a problem. Due to heavy pressure from visitors, there is a lot of wear and tear. So please be careful when near the flowers. Stay on the boardwalk and do not walk on the ground at all.

Other Unique Species That Are Less Well-Known

But the area is home to more than just the showy cuckoo flower. For example, the beautiful maidenhair fern grows here, and its leaves are evergreen. This means that it does not shed its leaves in winter; instead, they remain just as green as they are in summer.

Another beautiful flower is the globeflower, which looks like an oversized buttercup. It can grow up to seven dm tall with large flowers. The butterball is easily recognizable by its bright yellow, ball-shaped flowers. The butterball is most common in the mountain regions, but is rarely found as far south as Skåne. And even here!

An Area of Great Diversity

Risshytte Hage features several different habitat types—a nutrient-rich spruce forest with flowers, a poorer spruce forest with blueberry bushes, wet meadows where orchids grow, and some marshland. The wet meadow, which is the most botanically diverse of the vegetation types, consists of a coniferous-dominated section and a deciduous-dominated section. The former is home to a large and thriving population of lady’s slipper orchids. The deciduous-dominant wet meadow was maintained through grazing until recently.