Anne wrote in message
Heard on the BBC this morning that the ladyslipper is on the endangered
list
in the UK and prior to Kew Gardens getting involved there was only one
left
in the UK.....there are so many local names that I ask the
following.........is that the same plant I have growing wild in my garden?

Cypripedium reginae


No, take a look at..........

www.rareplants.co.uk/cypriped/calceo2.htm

Quite different in flower colour and distribution, your's is from America.
If it's naturalised in your garden you are a very lucky person (or an expert
with them?).

The last remaining clump of truly wild ones was being guarded in a field
somewhere in Yorkshire I believe but has now set seed and the resultant seed
has been grown at Kew (The Sainsbury Collection?)
There is one nursery in the UK selling plants of C.calceolus, presumably
from European mainland sources.
--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.

Ladyslipper.

Cypripedium reginae............on Cape Cod these are relatively
prolific.......in the springtime one of our walks takes us thru an area that
must contain at least a thousand of them......on one small hillock alone
there has to be in excess of 250........last year we discovered another
three around the our house.....we only have about half a dozen or so...I
say 'about' as we periodically see another seedling popping
up...........they are just left alone to do their thing. HW.

Harold wrote in message ...

Ladyslipper.

Cypripedium reginae............on Cape Cod these are relatively
prolific.......in the springtime one of our walks takes us thru an area
that
must contain at least a thousand of them......on one small hillock alone
there has to be in excess of 250........last year we discovered another
three around the our house.....we only have about half a dozen or so...I
say 'about' as we periodically see another seedling popping
up...........they are just left alone to do their thing. HW.


Ah, I hadn't realised you were from that side of the pond Harold.
Yes, C.reginae is a native to your country so it would grow wild there, but
it's not so easy to grow over here (UK) without providing very specific
conditions.
Even then it wasn't easy for me 'cause mine died and I can't remember ever
seeing a clump growing naturalised over here.
Someone tell me different, please, I really want to grow it, it's such a
beautiful plant.
--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.

Ah, I hadn't realised you were from that side of the pond Harold.
Yes, C.reginae is a native to your country so it would grow wild there,
but
Someone tell me different, please, I really want to grow it, it's such a
beautiful plant
========================
From what I have seen the only difference is the colour of the flower...do
not believe you see a difference in the leaves.
Growing them is not difficult if you have the right conditions.....my few
plants self seed in "dirt".....I usually use that word in place of soil as
that is what my little chunk of property consists of.....a sand lot left
over from the last ice age.......the top six inches is fairly acidic and
spongy from the pine needles over the years and beneath that is
sand....note...sand not sandy.

HW.

On Wed, 5 Feb 2003 23:10:43 -0000, "Sue & Bob Hobden"
wrote:


Yes, C.reginae is a native to [North America] so it would grow wild there, but
it's not so easy to grow over here (UK) without providing very specific
conditions.
Even then it wasn't easy for me 'cause mine died and I can't remember ever
seeing a clump growing naturalised over here.
Someone tell me different, please, I really want to grow it, it's such a
beautiful plant.

Many hardy terrestrial orchids are essentially impossible to
cultivate. Calypso bulbosa, much like a very tiny ladyslipper, is
by no means uncommon here in wild areas, but I've never heard of
anyone actually growing it. Some lucky people have it growing
wild, but there's a big difference between that and true
cultivation.

In the wild, Calypso seems to have quite exacting ecological
preferences. I've learned to look for them in open, mossy areas
under Douglas firs -- there's a certain feel or scent to the
Right Kind of place that I can't describe in words very well.

As Calypso, so Cypripedium, possibly with some exceptions.

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

In article ,
Rodger Whitlock wrote:
On Wed, 5 Feb 2003 23:10:43 -0000, "Sue & Bob Hobden"
wrote:


Yes, C.reginae is a native to [North America] so it would grow wild there, but
it's not so easy to grow over here (UK) without providing very specific
conditions.
Even then it wasn't easy for me 'cause mine died and I can't remember ever
seeing a clump growing naturalised over here.
Someone tell me different, please, I really want to grow it, it's such a
beautiful plant.

Many hardy terrestrial orchids are essentially impossible to
cultivate. Calypso bulbosa, much like a very tiny ladyslipper, is
by no means uncommon here in wild areas, but I've never heard of
anyone actually growing it. Some lucky people have it growing
wild, but there's a big difference between that and true
cultivation.

As I understand it, most cannot survive without a particular symbiotic
fungus (depending on the species), and those fungi are very sensitive
to conditions. I haven't seen it hypothesised, but it wouldn't surprise
me if the fungus was itself dependent on the presence of (say) particular
soil bacteria.

I have heard that you can transplant them by moving some of the soil
around them, but they rarely establish. This implies that that it isn't
just the absence of the fungus that is the problem, but the fact that it
requires particular conditions to thrive.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren,
University of Cambridge Computing Service,
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
Email:
Tel.: +44 1223 334761 Fax: +44 1223 334679

In article , Sue & Bob Hobden
writes

"Kay wrote in message

Wasn't the Plantlife charity involved too?
--

I thought that too but it's not mentioned on their web site, strange. Wonder
where we both got that from?

Well, I'm pretty sure it was mentioned in a slide show I gave for them
last year.


--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/garden/

Harold wrote in message ...
Ah, I hadn't realised you were from that side of the pond Harold.
Yes, C.reginae is a native to your country so it would grow wild there,
but
Someone tell me different, please, I really want to grow it, it's such a
beautiful plant
========================
From what I have seen the only difference is the colour of the flower...do
not believe you see a difference in the leaves.
Growing them is not difficult if you have the right conditions.....my few
plants self seed in "dirt".....I usually use that word in place of soil as
that is what my little chunk of property consists of.....a sand lot left
over from the last ice age.......the top six inches is fairly acidic and
spongy from the pine needles over the years and beneath that is
sand....note...sand not sandy.


Pretty specific soil conditions you have there, very different from my
Thames silt/clay, so I would need to invest a lot of work to create just the
soil needed for this species without it's other requirements.
Just providing the right soil conditions is not enough if my first failed
effort is anything to go by. :-(

Regarding the mycorrhiza fungus, our Dactylorhiza maculata & D. fuchsii do
seed around, and we normally only see young plants in my old Lily pots, so
do lilies also use a similar fungus? The orchid seed wouldn't germinate
without it's presence.
--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.