The planting and growing of native Lady Slippers is a very difficult thing. It is something that I would personally never try. In the NE, Cypripedium acaule is one native orchid that most orchid growers are familiar with. These native slippers live in a simbiotic relationship with a fungus found in the soils. Without the fungus, no slippers will ever survive long term. Yet people keep trying to grow them!
You can't buy the fungus to add it to soils, at least not yet. If you dig the plants up from the forest along with a lot of soil, some people have had better luck. But that would be illegal in all states!!! I have read numerous articles of failure to maintain native slippers in their yard even with lots of native soil. The fungus fails to thrive long term as do the slippers.
Now we are talking about Cyp. henryi from China. How do we get the soil over here with the plant?
Some growers have bought Cyp. pubescens and had better luck, but it is not easy like growing a Phalaenopsis or an Oncidium!
There is a school, Illinois College in Rochester Illinois where Dr. Zettler and students are working on identifying the exact micro fungus that allows each species of native orchids to germinate and survive. They are making great progress but it is very slow going. The Naples Orchid Society sponsors two students from the college to spend a month each summer working with Dr. Zettler and native Florida orchids. The goal is to allow for 6 native orchids in Florida that are now extinct in the wild to be re-established. The fungal ground work is a very important step in this process. They already dream of understanding what each orchid species requires in terms of a fungus so that these plants might be saved from permanent extinction. One such orchid is the Ghost Orchid. Ghost orchids are making a comeback in the Big Panther Refuge and Fakahatchee Strand in Collier County in Florida. You can google that for more info.
They have been working closely with a Cuban orchid expert Dr. Mujica because those extinct Florida species can be found growing in Cuba today. It made me proud that relations with Cuba are improving slowly and Dr. Mujica and the Naples Orchid Society, along with Dr. Zettler and his students are bridging the political bridge to save these plants. I have personally donated $4,000 over the last four years towards those efforts. Dr. Mujica and Dr. Zettler communicate on a regular basis, visit each other's countries all because or orchids!!
Sorry for such a long winded answer to this post but this needed to be said. Growing orchids can be far more complicated then simply digging them up and putting them in a pot.
