Shade Gardening: Unusual woodland plants, 1 by rcn48

rcn48 wrote:
LOL, not lurking just haven't had an opportunity to catch up in the past month! You're killing me with those beautiful Ladyslippers but you know that, right? :) One of these years I'm going to have to bite the bullet and try a few of those. I've always wanted to try the C. kentuckiensis because I've heard they're easy and yours are absolutely gorgeous! By the way, I still haven't taken a picture of the Trachystemon but as soon as I do I'll post a picture.

Katie, our location for the Showy Ladyslipper is similar to Weerobin's - a high canopy of shade with a little dappled sunshine in the morning. It's planted under the shade of a wide spreading Crab and receives minimal water other than rainfall. However, if the Ferns in the area start drooping we do set up sprinklers to water the area. This was a small plant, maybe three stalks, when we bought it from a nursery in Michigan. It was in an area where they had plants from a rescue dig and obviously no one knew what it was, it was priced at $10.00 and we grabbed it immediately! I don't know why but I don't have any recent pictures of it - this one was taken in 2005, about three years after it was planted in our gardens. I was worried earlier this spring because I couldn't see any shoots popping out of the ground but not to worry, three weeks later the shoots have already grown to about 12" high. Once they're finally out of the ground it doesn't take them long :) I think 2008 was the best year so far, there were 15 slippers on it! Not sure how many we'll get this year but I'll have to remember to take an updated photo.