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Yellow Lady's Slippers, In full flower

16 years ago

Went out with a friend this weekend looking for Cyp. pubescens in the Cuyahoga National Park and we found quite a few large and small clumps!

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The very large population that has been under study for a number of years has slowly been declining, A) because the park personnel decided it would be a good idea to flag each group...like placing a little dinner flag next to each plant for the deer to find. and B) the plants are in a rather active slump and the rains of last season did most of the population in.

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Anyway we found several dozen clumps that are not in danger of being washed away and are not near deer trails. Just thought I'd share a couple of pics that I took while out.

I have noted that the sepals on these plants are quite a bit greener than the clone that I have in my garden (from Cyp Haven)but equally as lovely! {{gwi:1058198}}

My Small White Lady's Slippers (to the right of the Yellows in the photo) will be blooming in the garden in a few days, I'll try to post some pictures of them as well.

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Comments (3)

macranthos
16 years ago
Beautiful Fred! Do you know how many blooming stems there are in the area? Do you know, if you've been there before, what sort of fruit set % exists in the fall? It will be "interesting" to see if the bee decline this year will put Cyp fruit set down...

I wish mine looked that nice!

Best,
Ross
fredsbog
Original Author
16 years ago
Ross, No idea how many blooming stems there are. The area is a lot richer than I thought. These populations are somewhat near to the populations I've been watching for 20 or so years but I've not been privy to these groupings before.

I will be keeping an "eye" on the plants to see what sort of capsule set there is, but Warren (Stoutamire) tells me that the plants are not pollinated by honey bees, but by bumble/carpenter type bees so the decline of honey bees should not affect capsule set. The larger question is: Will the deer leave the plants alone? I'll do my best to keep you posted!
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There's very little point in allowing the plants to produce seed pods, since the odds of getting volunteers in the garden are infinitessimal and they've only really been successfully artificially germinated using flasking techniques under lab conditions. Producing and ripening seeds uses a lot of energy that the plant could conserve and use toward building up the strength to flower in subsequent years. So, I'd suggest removing the seedpods before they develop... but I know it's tempting to leave 'em!
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I have a question about growing these. I would love to get some, but am wondering if my site would work. I have clay soil, which is about 7 on the ph scale. I have an area that goes from full sun to part shade to full shade, I can plant anywhere within this area. The types of trees that are growing there now are some cedar, Ash,Oak and popplar. I consider the full sun part as dry, the shade is more dry shade, than wet shade. What do you guys think?
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Has anything like shade, moisture, or neighboring plants changed? I have pink ladies slippers, and I've divided them early on when the first leaves show. I leave as much of the soil intact as possible, they seem soooo delicate! They haven't really reproduced themselves, they seem to take a long time to re-establish, and seem really fussy about where you put them. My best bet would be to mimic the original growing area as closely as possible, and keep them moist. Maybe you could add more soil/compost as a top dressing? Are they maybe depleting what they have? If you could keep them in the same spot and just give them more "food", as in natural soil/compost, I'm guessing natural loam, to avoid moving them unless really neccessary, try that first. I wish I could offer more!
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Lynda Waldrep
16 years ago
Great photos. Thanks for sharing. Deer are a problem everywhere. I plant cheap hostas as decoy plants. It works except for early spring when the hostas are not up yet. Lost eight Trillium dicepiens this spring since they were so early.

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