This is one of the most difficult ladyslippers to transplant and cultivate. It has become rare and often threatened to extirpated through...Read Moreout much of its former range. (22 states have declared it threatened or endangered.) This is largely due to the illegal wild collection of plants for garden use. Wild-collected plants are usually sold as "nursery propagated", and rarely survive for long.
According to Bill Cullina, 99% of the ladyslippers for sale as nursery-propagated are in reality wild-collected. Blooming-sized plants offered for under $35 are certainly wild-collected.
Optimum soil pH for C. reginae is 6.5-7.5. Prefers limestone soils.
There are now many hybrid cypripediums which are just as beautiful and much easier and more vigorous garden plants, and which you can be sure are not taken from the wild. The species Cypripedium kentuckiense and Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens (and hybrids using these species) are among the easiest and most heat tolerant.
There are hybrids with Chinese species that look like C. reginae but are more vigorous and adaptable as garden plants. If you like C. reginae, you can help preserve it by trying one of these hybrids in your garden.
This is the very RARE white form of the showy lady's slipper. I found this plant growing among typical ones on a trail in Gros Morne Nat...Read Moreional Park, Newfoundland, Canada. If you see this white form, leave it for others to enjoy. Native orchids should never be wild collected at any rate. Make sure any plants you purchase come from reputable dealers.
This is one of the most difficult ladyslippers to transplant and cultivate. It has become rare and often threatened to extirpated through...Read More
This is the very RARE white form of the showy lady's slipper. I found this plant growing among typical ones on a trail in Gros Morne Nat...Read More