I have a little clumb of yellow lady slippers given to me by a friend from
New England when he moved from his farm to San Francisco. I'm sure the
native orchid realizes it is not in ideal territory here in the semi-arid
inland Northwest, but my clump has now survived for 6 years and 2
transplants in a dappled shade relatively moist part of my garden.. My
biggest problem now is that the clump is in the way of a japanese anemone
that has decided to get aggressive..... Although some people talk about
necessary symbiotic bacteria and so forth for these delicate little guys, I
think they probably need some leaf mold every winter/spring, and adequately
moist conditions. If I'm not mistaken, they often grow in or near ditches in
the east and midwest.
"carbuff" wrote in message
news:8hvqe.1643434$Xk.871529@pd7tw3no...
Background: moved into a 1/2 acre urban property last fall, so
everything that's coming up is a surprise, more or less. I remember a few
things that were growing, but foolishly neglected to take pictures of the
place (what can I say, it was a move-from-hell).

Also, it's been an extremely wet and cooler than normal spring, so I'm
weeks behind in my planting schedule for my veggies.

So today, the first day without rain since who knows when, I crank up the
wheels on my lawnmower to the highest position to attack the weeds before
roto-tilling in the proposed veggie garden, and: lo & behold - I see some
gorgeous yellow blooms. Almost mowed over them. Did a Google search, and
apparently they are both rare and picky as to where they grow.

I'd love to transplant them to join my Hostas on the north side of the
house, but I'd be devastated if they didn't survive the move. I could
easily leave them where they are (hey, with 1/2 an acre, I've got lots of
leeway) but they are so far from the house that they won't be enjoyed.

What to do??