Today a local gardener gave me a clump of ground orchids (bletilla striata) I was wondering if I should plant them in the ground or plant them in a pot and bring them indoors on extremely cold nights? She told me she has hers growing in both full and partial sun. I don't have a flowerbed that gets only morning sun, but I do have one that gets lots of western sun. Any info would be great, thanks.

I had never heard of this plant so I looked it up on wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
"They easily succeed in USDA Zone 6 with only a moderate mulch of straw or leaves. These hardiness ratings only apply to plants in the ground with the idea of preventing the actual root system from being frozen. If potted, they should be placed in a frost-free location if winter temperatures go below freezing. The plant is generally considered hardy without a mulch if minimum winter temperatures do not go below 25 °F."
Maybe you can put some in the ground and some in a pot. Looks like you got a nice little treasure. Be sure to show us some pics in the spring

And there is some more info here
The thread "Bletilla Question" in Orchids forum

Thanks Anna and Ursula I ended up planting the clump in a pot. I'll just bring it indoors temporarily on very cold days. I'll plant it in the ground in Spring. I'll definitely post pictures of the blooms. I have a seed pod on one plant.

Sounds like a plan!

The new shoots are growing larger. I wonder when the seed pod will ripen? It's still yellow with a few dark red spots. I've read they need a fungus to help them germinate?

If by any chance you have the correct mycel in the accompanying soil, you might get lucky. In all these years, I have never seen seedlings, only increasing amount of mature plants. They do spread nicely!

I planted the mature clump is a mix that has coarse sand, peat, alfalfa meal, and composted pine bark. I've never grown orchids from seed.