Is it Cypripedium calceolus? I have one on the north side of my house, in sandy humusy soil. It gets about two hours of sun in the morning. In the summer, it gets watered once a week, along with everything else. It has survived for 18 years, and has formed a nice clump.

Thanks for the encouragement. I am thinking about putting it under the canopy of a Gary Oak in my perennial garden. But apparently it doesn't like to be moved so Im trying to choose the "right' location.

18 years I would call a success. Shorter periods of time are not unusual. I had some for multiple years as well but eventually these "slipped" away. Everything eats orchids, like lilies they are markers for the condition of habitats. Spectacular western native mountain ladyslipper is being wiped out by lumbering and collectors. When a tract starts being opened up elk come in and eat the orchids. Similarly, when as a kid I talked my parents into driving out to visit Jamieson(?) Valley Gardens near Spokane he said squirrels were following new logging roads into the forest and eating the calypso orchids.

When friends and I went looking for mountain ladyslipper to photograph a few springs back the naturalist at the ranger station told us about a mountain in the district that had thousands of them--and no trails. The district had just marked this previously unaltered forest off for logging. Guess the old growth logging moratorium was no longer in effect!

We've grown many species of terrestrial wild orchids over the last thirty years. To protect from slugs and maintain the right soil conditions, we bury 15 gallon pots within a few inches of the rim. The rim helps keep out slugs, and the container separates soil requirements.

Here is a link that might be useful: Native Orchids

John, I found your link most interesting. What area of the US are you in? I like your idea of creating as perfect an environment as possible for the terrestrial orchids and would be happy to copy. You have one pot with, I think, a Rattlesnake orchid? I found some of these at a marine park growing on rocks covered with moss. I've never seen a bloom, I believe they are insignificant. I have a picture but don't know how to post pics to this forum.

Goodyera blooms in summer, possibly out by now at low altitudes. It is fairly common and tractable--some friends have a little patch in their garden under a western redcedar (Thuja plicata)--and can be found occasionally at local garden centers. If you go where there are alot of them growing wild variations in leaf markings can be seen, with some more more highly marked and ornamental than others--in a similar fashion to Cyclamen hederifolium.

Dottie, though I live in Colorado, S of Colorado Springs, I experiment in Zone denial, and have many pleasant discoveries. The arid climate allows us to get away with things and grow a wider range of plants. The orchids grow in the moist, shady microclimates provided by numerous exotic conifers.

The rattlesnakes are indeed Goodyera- oblongifolia and repens. Both are about to bloom now. Flowers are greenish white and insignificant. Foliage is more interesting than flowers.

Calypso bloomed a few weeks ago, and Cypripedium is just finishing.

By growing these in sunken pots, the soil can be made perfect - like in the wild. For Calypso, that means lots of almost totally decomposed wood and loam. These are dormant in summer, growing a solitary leaf in late summer, early fall, and maturing a flower bud over winter, under snow, that blooms as soon as the snow melts and medium thaws. Cypripedium are in loamy granitic soil with good drainage, clay in the very bottom of the pot. Much easier to grow than Calypso. Commercial Bletilla and Pleione are the least fussy, grown in mix of bark and loamy humus that drains fast. Corallorhiza require pine roots, from which they may steal a little food. These are really hard to establish, and even then, don't appear every year.

John, thanks for the info. Most interesting. I am on Vancouver Island and there are some micro climates here that grow very unusual plants and orchids are of special interest to me. We have Calypso orchids growing wild on many of the Gulf Islands in places that have thin soil over rock that warms up early in the springtime. You'd wonder how they would survive because our summers are extremely dry -- often there is no rain from July to October but they survive in good numbers. It's fun to go looking for them in spring. My daughter has some growing wild on her property -- once again thin soil over rocks. Interesting aren't they?

Hello,

I am interested in getting orchids that are native to Colorado and am wondering if any of you sell them or know where to get them. Does anyone know if it is possible to get a permit to remove plants from the wild. Any and all information will be much apprecaited.