In article , "Ted Byers"
wrote:

"paghat" wrote in message
news

Personally I would never try this orchid cuz I'm cowardly about
houseplants & I want everything to fit in the yard so that Nature helps me
out & plants aren't completely reliant on me alone. When I was researching
terrestrial orchids, I reluctantly decided I would probably fail with any
orchid except pleine & bletilla, because they are the ones best apt to
naturalize outdoors & end up taking care of themselves (pecteilis might do
so if one is willing to cover them with a waterproof tent in winter). If I

There are a number of other genera that should do well for you. You might
want to visit http://www.hardy-orchids.com, for some (DACTYLORHIZA,
Orchis,CALANTHE,Cymbidium and a variety of Bletilla and Pleione), and
http://www.thimblefarms.com/ for others, including especially cypripediums
(also Aplectrum,Anacamptus,Calanthe,Calopogon, Calypso, Cephalanthera,
Dactylorhiza, Eleorchis, Epipactis, Goodyera, Orchis, Platanthera,
Ponerorchis, Spiranthes plus a number of intergenerics and a huge variety of
Bletilla and Pleione). Fraser Thimble farms has a much wider selection than
Red's Hardy Orchids, but there may be a tradeoff WRT shipping across the
border and the exchange rate.

Maybe visiting these web sites will encourage you to be adventurous and try
some other terrestrials also. Some of these hardy orchids are said to be
challenging, but others, like the cypripediums, are supposed to be quite
easy. I know some folk who have rescued cypripedium bulbs from sites where
they were destined to be destroyed by construction activity, and just
transplanted clumps of bulbs, dirt and all, from the construction site to
their back yard and left them to do their thing. They eventually formed
rather large patches of plants, creating an impressive display when all are
in bloom. (I believe, but am not certain, that both vendors I mentioned
supply only nursery grown plants, so you need not worry about endangering
wild populations with irresponsible collecting.) But whether or not they'll
be easy will be a function of how well you can duplicate their native
environment as well as if you can find a suitable specimen. With
cypripediums, for example, the genus is quite adaptable, with species
inhabiting a range of environments from bogs to forest understory: a wild
collected plant from a bog or meadow is likely to die in an urban garden
(the latter is due to the fact that the meadow grasses provide much needed
dappled shade in the hottest part of the summer), while at the same time a
nursery grown specimen will have already been through artificial selection
for thriving in gardens simply by virtue of the fact that only from the
initial specimens, only those suitable for a garden would survive the
nursery's conditions.

HTH

Ted

This is encouraging, thanks. I'd gone through our local library's books on
orchids (surprisingly excellent horticultural book collection, thanks
greatly t o Heronswood donations) attending mainly the chapters on
terrestrials. The elaborate suggestions for care of even the Pleiones
made it sound so daunting. If I hadn't seen pleiones naturalized in a Gig
Harbor Rhododendron Society member's garden, I wouldn't've known from the
typical care instructions they can take care of themselves.

I had already ordered a yellow cyprideum which won't ship for a couple
months yet so it's still a plant in my future. For the vast majority of
lady slippers the way mild Puget Sound micro-climate is no good, as we can
have as few as two weeks cold enough to chill them properly, which isn't
long enough, & hardiness is not sufficient if there's hardly any winter
for them. The yellow lady slipper is supposed to be the most likely to
make it on its own in Northwest gardens, so I made the decision to give it
a try. But I've never seen them actually established in any local gardens
so it could turn out to be an expensive failure.

Terrestrial orchids are very nearly the only thing I've wanted in my
gardens that I've been reluctant to add, because zone 8 is just barely NOT
cold enough for their seasonal chill without having them in pots that can
be popped in a refrigerator. So all I've planned is to add additional
colors of the pleione since it can do well with so little attention, &
I'll hope for the best for the yellow lady slipper when it's in hand.
Terrestrials fascinate me no end & every new magazine article I stumble
upon I read lustfully but even the most effusive articles end up talking
me out of them. A case of "read too much getting prepared" & it ended up
scaring me off.

-paghat

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/