Source for showy lady's slipper

[Jerry Friedman]

I see several companies are offering showy lady's slippers (/ Cypripedium reginae/) for around $35. I want to get a couple for a Mother's Day present (or maybe a late Hanukkah or birthday present). Can anyone recommend a company to buy from (or stay away from)? Is it true that you have to "order early--supplies are limited"?

If anyone wants to know whether they'll go to a good home, my mother lives in the suburbs of Cleveland and has a rather woodland-like yard, with several trees and some rhododendrons.

-- Jerry Friedman

[Bill who putters]

White Flower farm has two varieties.

[Una]

That sounds reasonably suitable, but this is a difficult garden plant. Site selection is very important.

I received one as a gift a few years ago and was stumped where to put it. Nowhere on my property did I have a site suitable for it, if the instructions that came with it were to be believed. I did the best I could but the plant died anyway.

Most plants being sold in catalogs now are supposed to be a hybrid of the North American native with a cultivated asian relative. So they are not taken from the wild but on the other hand they may yet have a negative impact on the endangered native.

Una

[Jerry Friedman]

For $85 rather than $35, though, unfortunately.

-- Jerry Friedman

[Jerry Friedman]

Hm. I've been reading about site selection, and Mom has spots that I think should work--shaded by deciduous trees in the morning and by a building in the afternoon.

Really? Some of the companies seemed to be quite clear that they were selling both the native species and hybrids. For instance,

So they

Interesting thought, which I hadn't seen mentioned anywhere. I'll be careful to get something clearly stated to be the species.

This plant isn't endangered on the national level, but according to the Forest Service, "almost every state" where it occurs lists it as endangered or threatened.

-- Jerry Friedman

[Una]

I too see the websites that claim they rescue plants from construction sites. I'd like to see permits to that effect. Conservation groups can get permits, but not easily. I am very suspicious about commercial sales of endangered plants collected in the wild.

The North American natives are a problem in another respect. They are notorious for not showing above ground for years at a time (kind of like cicadas). In deep woods that may not matter, but in a garden it does. Is your mom likely to remember the plant is there and protect a bare spot for it, for years?

Instead of this highly finicky orchid, how about a hardy cyclamen?

Una