Just talked to them. Their really, really last shipment of Cyps will be near the end of may. Nick

Pleiones, Habeneria, Calanthe, Pterostylus, Calopogans and a few other US native terrestrials are doing fine. The ones from China, Cephalathera, Orchis (Chususa), Oreorchis, Amitostigma, Peristylus, Neothianthe, Herminium, Gymnadenia all did uniformly bad. I still have a few of them but they are lingering, barely alive. Last year I got a few from Europe, alpine terrestrials they call them, 50% success rate only. Biggest success story is the Cypripedium experience. After getting the hang of them, I'm doing well with them. I posted a number of them on the 'Gallery forum'. Nick

plantfreak, It's interesting how gardeners always envy gardeners in other parts of the world. We grow quite a few tropical plants and orchids in our house. They are a struggle to keep healthy and we are thrilled when one of the orchids bloom. Then we'll travel somewhere in a more southern climate and see the same plants neglected but thriving in someone's yard or along the roadside. I remember when I was a young lad and saw my first palm tree. It was magical. We went up and touched the bark and had our photo taken. You ask when cyps flower in our region. Firstly 'our region' is quite large and the ecology varies quite a bit. In my garden the Yellow slippers bloom around the middle of June. The Sparrow Eggs maybe a week before. Both stay in bloom for a long time. I have some Yellow slippers on the north side of the house that aren't in bloom until the fourth week of June. In the wild it is much more variable. The Sparrow Eggs are in bloom anywhere starting from the first week of June in lower elevations to the first week of July at higher elevations. The same with the yellows but a week later. The wild C. montanums are often only out in mid July because they are found in areas of deeper snow cover and the growing season starts later. The C. montanums, however, can be out earlier at lower elevations (especially across the border in the province of British Columbia). The most prolific orchid in our region is the Calypso. They come out in the millions of clumps starting about June 10 or so. They can be found all along the coniferous forest that runs along the eastern base of the slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Especially from the latitude of Calgary northwards. Among the white spruces there's often Calypsos opening their blooms beside the remnants of snow patches...very similar to how crocuses will open with snow still on the ground in the garden.

This old post has stayed alive! I thought I'd comment to clear up a common myth: lady slippers do not need a mycorhizal fungus to survive. In nature, they require a symbiotic/parasitic relationship with a fungus to germinate and develop their first growth bud. After they spring out of the earth 3 years or so after their seed was dropped, they become photosynthetic, and no longer needing those fungi they expell them in some cases; however, often they stay *Partially* parasitic on these fungi which reside inside thier root systems mostly (so no need for transplantation of their soil). There are genera that stay entirely mycotrophic for their lifetime such as Corallorhiza, and Cephalanthera austiniae since they have no clorophyll. We are sure of this information because we grow these plants from seed in sterile jars on a sugar medium, and then transplant them into media, sometimes thousands of miles from their native habitats and native soil fungi. They grow fine this way; and Wendy Lee, you are correct that they don't like to have their roots disturbed during the growing season. As for endangerment, only a handful of the genus's 45 or so members is considered threatened, and only a few are considered endangered, certainly not Cypripedium parviflorum varieties nor Cyp acaule. That absolutely doesn't mean that it's a good idea to go dig them up! Species coexisting, absolutely! Many species of Cypripedium can co-habitate regions of suitable climate since they have similar growth requirements, at least within a few hundred yards! As for retail, here's a list of seed prop sources: http://www.uslink.net/~scl/ http://www.hillsidenursery.biz/ http://asiaticanursery.com/index.php/cPath/17osCsid=b32c4ea8dc7d74a5fc8974f9469d1c8c http://www.thimblefarms.com/98orchidtf.html http://www.c-we.com/cyp.haven/ http://www.orchidmix.com/cyps.htm http://www.vtladyslipper.com/ http://www.infonet.ca/cypr/engl.htm? Best Regards, Ross