NYEric
Well-Known Member
Those look great.
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Dutch growing cyps in the greenhouse for the pot and garden trade
The most recent issue of the British magazine The Alpine Gardener )(Sept. 2013) published two articles entitled "The Great Cypripedium Revolution" and "Cultivating Cypridediums with Success in the Garden." It seems the Dutch have (not unsurprisingly) found ways to "domesticate" and hybridize these plants (particularly using North American and Chinese species) so that they can be pot plants for the summer and then be planted in your garden. I suppose that gives them an advantage over the Taiwanese with their capture of the phal. market.
Harvey
They are somewhat large pdfs because of the pictures, so I'm not sure if they will attach or not (image sizes allowed here are annoyingly small). Yeah, as I thought. Too big. Let's see if this works.
Just in case that doesn't work, here's a link to Dropbox:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/438s0yjpnj9ueo1/BV7RKHYoE2
The most recent issue of the British magazine The Alpine Gardener )(Sept. 2013) published two articles entitled "The Great Cypripedium Revolution" and "Cultivating Cypridediums with Success in the Garden." It seems the Dutch have (not unsurprisingly) found ways to "domesticate" and hybridize these plants (particularly using North American and Chinese species) so that they can be pot plants for the summer and then be planted in your garden. I suppose that gives them an advantage over the Taiwanese with their capture of the phal. market.
Harvey
They are somewhat large pdfs because of the pictures, so I'm not sure if they will attach or not (image sizes allowed here are annoyingly small). Yeah, as I thought. Too big. Let's see if this works.
Just in case that doesn't work, here's a link to Dropbox:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/438s0yjpnj9ueo1/BV7RKHYoE2
NYEric
Well-Known Member
THanks. I'm not going to mention the legality of posting those! 
But wouldn't it be remarkable if these plants become widely cultivated, particularly both as pot plants as well as garden. If they can be propagated widely enough, they could become rather common. I wonder, also, what the long-term consequences of interspecific breeding will be, particularly over many generations, which appears to be the intention here. And that many of these hybrids will have progenitors from more than one continent. That would be fairly rare among Orchidaceae. I'm trying to think of other examples, and I can't, as most genera seem to have evolved on a single continent (with the exception of Australia), but the genus Cypripedium is circumpolar rather than continental. I wonder whether the hybrids will have hybrid vigor that will make them easier to grow in gardens. I know that I tried to grow some C. parviflorum in Mississippi, and failed, probably because of the heat. C. kentuckiense might have been more successful, although even it is from a bit further north.
NYEric
Well-Known Member
Yes it would be nice to see Cyps commonly available as pot plants. Hopefully our EU reps will keep us posted if they become more available.
Indeed. Maybe there's a business opportunity here for someone, as at least some of the species are North American, and all of them are temperate and would probably do well outside in many parts of the U.S. If they can survive MN winters (C. reginae is the state flower, I believe), not to mention northern Michigan and Nebraska, hardiness may not be an issue. I used to grow C. reginae in Michigan on the northeast side of my condo under a drain spout with a plastic bag "cupping" the growing area to keep it wetter. They were beautiful. It occurs to me that a marketing plan of "grow your own orchid outside" might work here.
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