The ladyslipper orchid, Cypripedium ‘Rascal’ has been looking absolutely stunning in the spring woodland garden. This is a hybrid of two North American native species, Cypripedium parviflorum var. parviflorum and Cypripedium kentuckiense.
Flowering this week at JLBG is the lovely Taiwanese lady slipper, Cypripedium formosanum. This is the earliest flowering of all the lady slipper orchids that we’ve grown, with most others not making an appearance for another month. Our plants are happy in rich, compost amended native soil with a pH near neutral. A couple of
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Below is our 16 year old clump of the ladyslipper, Cypripedium ‘Rascal’, this week. This amazing Carson Whitlow hybrid is a cross of two North American species, Cypripedium parviflorum var. parviflorum x Cypripedium kentuckiense. As you can see, it thrives despite our summer heat and humidity.
We’re just back from a quick outing to the Flower Hill Nature Preserve in Johnston County, NC…just a few miles from JLBG. This unique coastal plain site contains remnants of species more common in the NC mountains, nearly 5 hours west. The top of the bluff is a small stand of enormous Rhododendron catawbiense, while
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We are just starting with the first wave of Cypripedium (ladyslipper orchids) in the garden this week. One of the earliest selections to put on a show is Cypripedium ‘Rascal’, an outstanding cross of Cypripedium kentuckiense and Cypripedium parviflorum var. parviflorum…all US natives.
First sip of cyps Read More »
It was a real thrill last week to visit a population of Cypripedium kentuckiense (Kentucky Ladyslipper Orchid) in Texas with native plant guru, Adam Black. Adam has made numerous trips to this and other nearby sites, carefully pollinating the orchids to ensure seed set and enhance reproduction. While we’ve offered this species as seed-grown plants
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I remember when I discovered we could actually grow ladyslipper orchids in the garden, despite so many stories of them being impossible to cultivate. The reality is that one ladyslipper, Cypripedium acaule is tough to move. Otherwise, they’re easy. I just took this photo of our clump of Cypripedium ‘Hank Small’…32 flowers this year! I
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