I am thrilled to share these with you. When we bought this property we were told by the neighbors that they had heard there were once yellow lady slippers in the bog. However, they had never seen them.
A few weeks ago I almost stepped on a patch of the white lady slippers, but then we were amazed to actually find a yellow one too.
There are literally hundreds of the white ones (Cypripedium candidum) but after searching and searching we only found one yellow one that, from the other post, I learned is Cypripedium calceolus var. parviflorum.
This piece of property never fails to amaze us. But now I need to know - how do you help the yellow ones colonize again? I assume that at one time there must have been a lot of them for people to talk about hearing about there once being yellow lady slippers here.
Native Lady Slippers in Southern Michigan
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shadylanejewel
- Posts: 547
- Joined: Dec 03, 2001 8:00 pm
- USDA Zone: 8a
WoW WoW WoW Chris & Brian
You are sooooo lucky. Those are incredible.
People say our property use to have thousands of the pink lady slippers. But we have never seen even one.
Of course the property use to be surrounded by mature timber and now that is gone too.
Hope someone else has suggestions on increasing the yellow ones.
You are sooooo lucky. Those are incredible.
People say our property use to have thousands of the pink lady slippers. But we have never seen even one.
Of course the property use to be surrounded by mature timber and now that is gone too. Hope someone else has suggestions on increasing the yellow ones.
Last edited by shadylanejewel on Oct 23, 2008 3:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
Julie
"To Plant a Seed is a Noble Deed - Propagation is Conservation" Norman C. Deno, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry
"To Plant a Seed is a Noble Deed - Propagation is Conservation" Norman C. Deno, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry
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doublemom2
- Posts: 3918
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- USDA Zone: 8
- Location: WA State zone 8
Here is a picture of the ones that I found this last weekend. I have never seen a white one so that was very cool. Anyway, I don't know about helping them to colonize but my Minnesota wildflower book says that they need their own special fungus that grows on their roots to survive. The reason is that the seeds have no stored nutrients, only an embryo and they require a fungal invasion to infuse the seed with nutrients and the process can take several years before the embryo can develop roots or shoots. So disturbance or transplantation during that crucial time can interrupt the cycle. It sounds to me like the best thing to do is to protect the environment that they grow in from being disturbed. I saw hundreds of the pink showy ladyslippers this weekend but only this one clump of the yellow.
Lynette
Lynette
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petal*pusher
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Chris and Brian.......had not found this thread until this a.m.
Such little beauties you have discovered! I've lived in this area my entire life....only 15 miles or so away from you.....and NEVER have seen either of these orchids here!!!
The U.P. has several areas of these beauties....this is even better than discovering that cougar on your property!!.....p
Such little beauties you have discovered! I've lived in this area my entire life....only 15 miles or so away from you.....and NEVER have seen either of these orchids here!!!
The U.P. has several areas of these beauties....this is even better than discovering that cougar on your property!!.....p
