I know there are orchids that are native to Ontario; e.g. cypripedium,
to be found mostly in wet meadows (at least the ones I can recall).
And a fair number of rather inconspicuous species; whose names escape
me.

I know there are wetlands just a few minutes drive west of me where
some quite rare orchids can be found.

Does anyone know of any orchids species that would not only be winter
hardy in Ontario (Simcoe County - north of Toronto), but thrive in a
well drained urban garden right beside moss phlox (which did quite
well last year)? I probably won't do anything about it for a few
months, but I would be quite interested in buying nursery grown
orchids that would do well in my garden, and not need to be dug up in
the fall. My health is such that I only put in plants, like phlox and
irises and lilies, that do not need a great deal of attention. I lost
some amaryllis because I had put them in a garden, but was not well
enough to bring them in last fall. Of course, I would deal only with
nursery grown plants, so that I don't create extra pressure on natural
populations.

Is there anything you could suggest, or should I forget about orchids
in the garden and just have my hardy bulbs and rhizomes outside and
orchids inside?

What would be really good is a species that reproduces vegetatively to
form clumps of plants (like some of the cypripediums do). If you have
some suggestions, an url to photographs would be good and an url to a
potential supplier would be better.

Thanks,

Ted

Ted,
I know Wisconsin is not as far north as you are but ...

Try
http://www.botany.wisc.edu/Orchids/O...Wisconsin.html
Karen

Ted Byers wrote:
I know there are orchids that are native to Ontario; e.g. cypripedium,
to be found mostly in wet meadows (at least the ones I can recall).
And a fair number of rather inconspicuous species; whose names escape
me.

I know there are wetlands just a few minutes drive west of me where
some quite rare orchids can be found.

Does anyone know of any orchids species that would not only be winter
hardy in Ontario (Simcoe County - north of Toronto), but thrive in a
well drained urban garden right beside moss phlox (which did quite
well last year)? I probably won't do anything about it for a few
months, but I would be quite interested in buying nursery grown
orchids that would do well in my garden, and not need to be dug up in
the fall. My health is such that I only put in plants, like phlox and
irises and lilies, that do not need a great deal of attention. I lost
some amaryllis because I had put them in a garden, but was not well
enough to bring them in last fall. Of course, I would deal only with
nursery grown plants, so that I don't create extra pressure on natural
populations.

Is there anything you could suggest, or should I forget about orchids
in the garden and just have my hardy bulbs and rhizomes outside and
orchids inside?

What would be really good is a species that reproduces vegetatively to
form clumps of plants (like some of the cypripediums do). If you have
some suggestions, an url to photographs would be good and an url to a
potential supplier would be better.

Thanks,

Ted

Karen wrote in message ...
Ted,
I know Wisconsin is not as far north as you are but ...

Try
http://www.botany.wisc.edu/Orchids/O...Wisconsin.html
Karen


Hmmmmmmmm, Unless I am going senile in my old age, I would have sworn
that Wisconsin was further north than me. Isn't it just to the south
of Lake Superior, just west of Michigan? If so, it is further north
than much of Ontario. Southern Ontario is further south than northern
California. I am in Sincoe county, which is well north of Toronto
(but not too far to commute) and southeast of Georgian Bay.

But thanks for the link. It got me thinking further about
cypripediums, and I found this link: http://www.infonet.ca/cypr. He
has a couple cyprpedium species that would do well here, even on the
north side of the house; and they appeal to me, and they are nursery
propagated and grown. In fact, I could put them in the westernmost
part of my south flower bed, because it gets dappled shade in the
afternoon and evening during the summer.

As a result of this search, I also found
http://www.hardy-orchids.com/index.html
which has a much larger selection of hardy orchids. So, as the budget
allows, I will be adding hardy orchids to my gardens.

Thanks again,

Ted

"Gareth Wills" wrote in message ...
Many years ago when we lived in Buffalo, NY we grew bletilla outdoors in a
sandy patch near the foundation of the greenhouse. The only protection they
ever got was a snow mulch which was usually more than plentiful. The sand
was left over from the greenhouse construction and helped lighten the
fertile but very heavy brown clay. They grew as well as any of the iris,
peonies, phlox, etc and with less bother. Good luck
Gary

Hi Gary.

Thanks. I did a search on bletilla, in order to find some pictures,
and found this site: http://www.hardy-orchids.com/index.html (alas,
in my reply to Karen I confused this site with
http://www.thimblefarms.com/, which is the one I had intended to refer
to there).

Anyway, I found some of what is listed on
http://www.hardy-orchids.com/index.html a little odd, and that plants
that will do well in USDA zone 7 are listed as hardy. Don't the zone
numbers increase as you go south? Then, isn't zone 7 almost tropical?
But they do have a wide variety of orchids and other plants that
ought to do well here.

BTW, what species of bletilla did you grow?

Thanks again,

Ted

Ted Byers wrote:
Karen wrote in message ...

Ted,
I know Wisconsin is not as far north as you are but ...

Try
http://www.botany.wisc.edu/Orchids/O...Wisconsin.html
Karen



Hmmmmmmmm, Unless I am going senile in my old age, I would have sworn
that Wisconsin was further north than me. Isn't it just to the south
of Lake Superior, just west of Michigan? If so, it is further north
than much of Ontario. Southern Ontario is further south than northern
California. I am in Sincoe county, which is well north of Toronto
(but not too far to commute) and southeast of Georgian Bay.

But thanks for the link. It got me thinking further about
cypripediums, and I found this link: http://www.infonet.ca/cypr. He
has a couple cyprpedium species that would do well here, even on the
north side of the house; and they appeal to me, and they are nursery
propagated and grown. In fact, I could put them in the westernmost
part of my south flower bed, because it gets dappled shade in the
afternoon and evening during the summer.

As a result of this search, I also found
http://www.hardy-orchids.com/index.html
which has a much larger selection of hardy orchids. So, as the budget
allows, I will be adding hardy orchids to my gardens.

Thanks again,

Ted

Well, geography never was a strong suite of mine.....
Glad you found something helpful.
Karen