URGENT: Native Cyp Help (Ontario?)

[Paph_LdyMacBeth]

Hi everyone,

I was given a gift this afternoon from a client at work today...she came in with a clump of yellow lady slippers (that was all she knew about them).
I think they might be Cypripedium parviflorum?
The story behind these guys is she brought them home from a friends cottage some 10 years ago. They've been growing in her yard ever since. She divided them up about 2 hours ago when she dropped them off

So, my question is WHAT ON EARTH DO I DO WITH THEM!?!
I have heard they do not transplant well so I am hoping to get this right!


Thanks again

 

[fundulopanchax]

Hi, these usually transplant very well. The easiest way to handle them in a garden setting is to plant them in a largely inorganic mix. If your garden center sells turface and Soil Perfector those are the best to use. If not, then you can use a mix composed of sand (dont use the very white "playbox sand" as that is often very alkaline and kills plants - often the bags say to not use with plants) and pine bark. A good mixture for your yellow ladyslippers would be 50% sand and 50% pine bark (you can use the finer chunks from garden mulch). You only need to dig 6 inches or so deep as the roots will stay near the surface. I would make the planting site about 18 inches in diameter. Plant so that the roots are about an inch below the surface and the crown about 1/4 inch or 1 cm below the surface. Keep the roots uniformly moist the first year - water nearly every day to be sure. Light should be no more than 2 hours of direct sun each day - dappled shade the remainder of the day.

Good luck - your plant looks very nice!

Ron

 

[NYEric]

Ta-dah! Most of us would kill for a mature clump of cyps!

 

[biothanasis]

This is a great gift!!!! Happy growing!! Ron's instructions are realy good!!! You could also pot them up in a big container, as these tend to spread. The mix is up to you and your watering habbits! I use 1:1:1/3 perlite:small gravel:bark. Good luck!

 

[parvi_17]

It's a beautiful plant that will reward you year after year. Ron's instructions are great - follow them and you'll succeed. It's really an easy plant to grow!