After 55+ years of gardening, I've worked up the nerve to try my hand at Lady slippers, I have a small collection of Showy and Yellow Lady Slippers. They are in a North facing raised beds, that has been filled with grass and leaves over several years. They get dappled sun and moisture from an irrigation system. Any and all suggestions would be appreciated how to maintain and get them to thrive. I was lucky to get my yellow to bloom a few weeks after transplanting. Thanks again.

Oh my, they really are lovely. This kind of orchid grows where I came from, the coast of British Columbia. Cool, moist but not too cold winters, maybe a little snow but no frozen ground. (mulch heavily with leaves) They love undisturbed forest-y nooks. Some of them disappear entirely after they have put up leaves, not even holding leaves through summer so don't be alarmed if they "go underground" until spring.

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dyzzypyxxy said:Oh my, they really are lovely. This kind of orchid grows where I came from, the coast of British Columbia. Cool, moist but not too cold winters, maybe a little snow but no frozen ground. (mulch heavily with leaves) They love undisturbed forest-y nooks. Some of them disappear entirely after they have put up leaves, not even holding leaves through summer so don't be alarmed if they "go underground" until spring.

If you could please fill in your personal profile, the little person icon in the upper left blue bar, we will then know where you are and could advise you better.

Thanks, my location is just south of the twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, the ground does freeze here, these particular Lady Slippers are rescue plants from a state approved rescuer. Zone 4B, getting closer to Zone 5 each and every year.

These are gorgeous and you are so lucky to have been allowed to rescue them. I totally understand that you would want to grow them well to preserve them.
I know the habitat of Cypripedium acaule quite well, unfortunately I know very little about your Cyp reginae, except what one reads in books and google searches. Having said that, I thought the reginae grows a lot wetter than acaule and the main flowering is July.
Is the yellow one Cyp parviflorum? Taking a stab at the id here...

I have a nice book on growing these, let me take a look....

That's neat - they rescue these orchids from areas to be cleared or built, I gather? My brother lives near a forest lot where he walks his dog often and there is a huge colony of slipper orchids there. He is in constant fear that the trees will be cut some time and the orchids lost forever. I sure hope there's such a rescue operation there!

Friends in BC grow them in nooks in their gardens, and my mother had them at her house, too. I believe the best you can do is to provide the closest thing to their natural environment that you can, then maybe add a little "bonus" in the form of some soluble nutrients occasionally. Compost tea with a little epsom salts added would make sense to me.

The Lady Slipper is the state flower of MN it is illegal to pick, uproot or unearth the flowers according to a state law enacted in 1925. If wildflowers are to be sold for purposes other than scientific and herbarium use, they must have been either A) growing naturally on the collectors property, then collected and cultivated by the collector on the collector’s property, or B) collected with written permission from the property of another, then transplanted to the private property of the collector and cultivated on the collector’s property. In either case, one or more permits and inspection by MDA are required prior to sale of the plants. Inspections must take place after the plant emerges from dormancy under cultivation and can be identified to species. As part of the permit application, MDA requires 1) written documentation that plants offered for sale grew naturally on the applicant’s property or that the applicant had permission to collect them from the property of another, 2) a record of the dates they were collected and transplanted, 3) the cultivation techniques used by the applicant, 4) the intended date of sale, and 5) the
approximate number of plants. Persons considering sale of these species collected from the wild should contact MDA staff listed below for further information.

I have a very nice and informative book on the subject called
Growing Hardy Orchids by John Tullock.
He tells and shows amongst other details exactly how to set up a growing bed, what medium to mix etc.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0881927155/

Ursula said:I have a very nice and informative book on the subject called
Growing Hardy Orchids by John Tullock.
He tells and shows amongst other details exactly how to set up a growing bed, what medium to mix etc.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0881927155/

Thanks for the info!

Yeah, 2 of my small yellow lady slippers are popping up, hoping the showy slippers show up!

How wonderful! I would be tickled pink to see them!!

I got four Cypripedium acaule from someone on Ebay last spring. They were blooming and looked like the right thing. He assured he had all proper permits but I didn't see any.

I have no idea how to take care of these. I planted them in a 3 gallon pot full of rotting leaves and pine needles, watered with distilled water and kept them in the shade. During the winter, I put them on a shelf in the garage with my other plants that can't take frozen soil. So far, so good. Three have come up and I am hoping the fourth is still thinking about it.



If anyone has some advice, I would love to hear it.

Daisy, I am not sure how one can improve on your condition. The Pine needles are a good idea, as one always sees the Cyp acaule in acidic grounds. And you are providing some frost. During the Summer they would be shaded by ferns and leafy trees, in the Winter they would miss that protection, but in many areas still would be near Conifers.
I took some pics today at a local natural park in a mountainous area. (Ramapo mountains) Here is their progress. These grow together with Mountain Laurel and low growing Blue Berries and lots of Moss.

Those are awesome!

It does not look like much, but the Showy Ladyslippers are starting to emerge!

Cool!!