Terrestrial Orchids

[McDonough]

Here in Idaho some of the orchids are already long out of bloom. some are just getting started. I went out today June 13 2010 and took these pictures:

Jim, somehow I missed your post of all these orchid photos... very nice!

[Hoy]

I would love to grow more orchids in my garden but here in Norway they are very hard to get hold of. I don't know any supplier of garden orchid here. If I buy from abroad it is a lot of paperwork to be done (by the supplier) and they often do not dispatch to Norway.

[James R.]

I am with you on that. I wish I could find a good source for Dactylorhiza in the US there are lost of them in the UK but now they charge $60.00 per plant or bulb that is on the CITES list  . Politics as usual you can have it if you have lots of cash. You can get lots of Orchids on Ebay from China but it is a Federal crime here unless you have a CITES permit and they cost a lot there.

[James R.]

Here it is October 21st and my Bletilla ochracea thinks it is Spring again. It is flowering now and has two more flower stalks coming up. The joys of nature  .

[Hoy]

How do you think the Bletilla will take the winter if it starts anew now? (Also something to add to the wishlist!)

[James R.]

Good question! I guess I will find out in spring! We usually don't get hard frost where I live till December or later depending on the year. Last year our firt frost was Dec. 12 and it got down to 10 or 12 degrees F. for 2 days (and that was way colder than normal years) then almost no frosts under 27 the rest of the winter.   

[WimB]

A Cypripedium in flower now:

Cypripedium 'Emil' (C. calceolus x parviflorum)

[McDonough]

A Cypripedium in flower now:

Cypripedium 'Emil' (C. calceolus x parviflorum)

A dramatically handsome hybrid.  Judging from the parentage, it should be perfectly easy and hardy outside. Are you growing yours in a pot or the open ground?  I see this often on the SRGC pages, where apparently a number of Cyp species and hybrids are available and popular in Europe, unfortunately they are virtually unavailable or unobtainable here.

[WimB]

A Cypripedium in flower now:

Cypripedium 'Emil' (C. calceolus x parviflorum)

A dramatically handsome hybrid.  Judging from the parentage, it should be perfectly easy and hardy outside. Are you growing yours in a pot or the open ground?  I see this often on the SRGC pages, where apparently a number of Cyp species and hybrids are available and popular in Europe, unfortunately they are virtually unavailable or unobtainable here.

I grow it outside...perfectly hardy as you say! I have it in the shade in a soil enriched with compost.

In Europe there are a few people who have refined the sowing of these plants and who have made alot of gardenworthy hybrids: Werner Frosch of Frosch's Cypripedium: http://www.w-frosch.de/Cypris/menu_e.htm, Jan Moors of Crustacare: http://www.crustacare.be/Plants/HomepagePlantsEnglish.html and Svante Malmgren: http://www.lidaforsgarden.com/Orchids/cypripedium_eng.htm to name a few. They are starting to be mass-produced too: on gardenfairs in Belgium and our neighbouring countries you can find a lot of these hybrids for sale already, the prices are still very high though, on average 25-35 euro's for a plant. Last year I found a batch of them for sale in a local gardencenter (probably the hybrid Ulla Silkens) for 8 euro's a piece, needless to say, i bought a few  .

[McDonough]

Wow, only 8 euro's each   I'll check out those links later, have to get to work now.  Just checked around for USA sources, and lo and behond, there's a source right here in Massachusetts!  Oh no, I can see my money flying out of my wallet already
http://www.hillsidenursery.biz/orchids/index.php#bkmrk67

I might have to indulge in a couple, because if they grow as easily as C. pubescens v. parviflorum or even C. reginae, they would be long-lived investments for the garden.  My larger clump of C. pubescens v. parviflorum went from 32 or 34 pips, to 42 pips this year, the smaller clump is now up to about 30 pips.  Must experiment and divide one of these clumps this year.

Also, Plant Delight's Nursery has a few.   Seems the going price for these beauties is between $50-$100.
http://www.plantdelights.com/Cypripedium-Dietrich-Perennial-Dietrich-Hardy-Ladyslipper-Orchid/productinfo/9231/

[WimB]

Wow, only 8 euro's each   I'll check out those links later, have to get to work now.  Just checked around for USA sources, and lo and behond, there's a source right here in Massachusetts!  Oh no, I can see my money flying out of my wallet already
http://www.hillsidenursery.biz/orchids/index.php#bkmrk67

I might have to indulge in a couple, because if they grow as easily as C. pubescens v. parviflorum or even C. reginae, they would be long-lived investments for the garden.  My larger clump of C. pubescens v. parviflorum went from 32 or 34 pips, to 42 pips this year, the smaller clump is now up to about 30 pips.  Must experiment and divide one of these clumps this year.

Also, Plant Delight's Nursery has a few.   Seems the going price for these beauties is between $50-$100.
http://www.plantdelights.com/Cypripedium-Dietrich-Perennial-Dietrich-Hardy-Ladyslipper-Orchid/productinfo/9231/

Pricey, these things in the States...almost all of the hybrids (I see most of them are frosch hybrids) are very easy-growing!! You should try some...if your wallet can handle that 

[WimB]

A couple of terrestrial orchids in flower here now:

Epipactis gigantea and
Epipactis palustris

[Tony Willis]

Bletilla ochracea in bloom now.

Quite pleased about this as I purchased it as Nomocharis aperta and could of course see at once when it came it was something different.

[Lori S.]

Wow, rarely do misidentified purchases turn out so well!  I assume it is probably pot-grown, perhaps in a greenhouse.  Is it hardy outdoors for you there?   (Just curious... at the other end of the spectrum, Bletilla striata continues to be sold here, mass-produced in the Netherlands I think and sold bare-root, as a "hardy orchid" - fat chance.    )

[Tony Willis]

Lori

it may be hardy but I am not taking that chance. It will overwinter frost free.