Well, I had a year off judging at the Chelsea Flower Show this year. And that has enabled me to take a look at some of the native wildflowers in Pennsylvania and New York which are usually at their best while I’m away at the show.
And here’s one of the stars – the lady’s slipper orchid (Cypripedium acaule).
I know of only two places where the lady’s slipper orchid grows in this area and both are inside fences set up to keep out the deer. There are just so many more deer than is natural, that everywhere else they’ve seem to have been eaten. Some people who’ve lived in this area for many decades remember sheets of them – but no more. So it was good to see them, and to see them thriving with young and mature plants as well dry seed pods from last year. But outside the fence – none.
I know of only two places where the lady’s slipper orchid grows in this area and both are inside fences set up to keep out the deer. There are just so many more deer than is natural, that everywhere else they’ve seem to have been eaten. Some people who’ve lived in this area for many decades remember sheets of them – but no more. So it was good to see them, and to see them thriving with young and mature plants as well dry seed pods from last year. But outside the fence – none.
Cypripedium acaule, the Pink Lady's Slipper (aka Moccasin Flower) is the most common native American lady's slipper. It is the one, however, most destined for failure when gardeners try to grow it, because it needs a very specific acidic kind of spot (~pH 4-4.5 or so).
Many other Cypripedium are much more suited for the garden. If you want to try some, make sure to buy laboratory propagated plants, not those ripped from the wild, and recommended ones would be:
Cypripedium reginae
C. parviflorum (& C. p. var. pubescens)
C. kentuckiense
and most especially
Cypripedium hybrids such as Ulla Silkens & Gisela. Hybrids tend to be easiest to grow of all, and are the only ones you can be guaranteed were not ripped from the wild, since they are all man-made!
A wonderful Cypripedium website, which not only shows species, but also hybrids - together with pictures of their parents - as well as other information, is hybridizer Werner Frosch's at http://www.w-frosch.de/Cypris/menu_e.htm
Posted by: judywhite | May 29, 2008 at 04:25 PM
Thanks judy, there are certainly some spectacular plants on Werner Frosch's website. And they seem to be a little less difficult to find in nurseries now, although still expensive.
Posted by: Graham Rice | May 30, 2008 at 07:18 AM
Yes, they are expensive. They do take a long time to get to salable size (you want the largest plants you can afford, because small seedlings are very difficult to establish), and they are laboratory propagated, so, to a point, the expense is understandable. As yet, Cypripedium are limited, choice plants; it's not like someone's out there making millions of them for Home Depot.
Most places are done shipping for the spring, so start thinking in terms of fall planting. Some online nurseries that sell Cypripedium hybrids (and species) are:
Vermont Ladyslipper Company (VT)
http://www.vtladyslipper.com
Raising Rarities (OH)
http://www.raisingrarities.com
Hillside Nursery (MA)
http://www.hillsidenursery.biz
Posted by: judywhite | May 31, 2008 at 10:28 AM
In Britain, reputable nurseries selling Cypripedium hybrids include:
Laneside Alpines
http://www.lanesidealpines.com
Rare Plants
http://www.rareplants.co.uk
Westonbirt Plants
http://westonbirtplants.co.uk
Posted by: Graham Rice | June 04, 2008 at 03:49 PM