Cypripedium acaule

The pink or stemless lady's slipper is considered by many to be the most difficult to grow of the lady's slippers in cultivation. I've had a bit of a hard time; last year it had 4 shoots and 3 flowers (bought it last year) and this year it was going to have 4 shoots but one rotted off. The others look awesome and I'm pretty proud of myself for my accomplishment here. It's growing in 60% shade under a tree. The trick with these guys is to grow in a VERY VERY acidic soil, pH 3-4.5, or the plant will die in a couple seasons. I water with RO water mixed with vinegar at a dilution of 2 tbsp. vinegar per 1 gallon water. When you see weeds growing around the plant, you know it's time for some more vinegar! Never fertilize and try to water only seldom. Also, I think my shoot might've rotted off from late winter/early spring wet, so grow in a gritty soil and plant raised above ground level. This plant has a very long root sytem unlike the yellows and therefore it is very easy to break the roots when moving (which is not good) so don't move if at all possible. Who ever is reading this, wish me luck this year!

Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens

Here are my three large yellow lady's slippers. These are the larger form of the one I posted a couple weeks ago, growing to 16" tall and with flowers up to 4" across. They are by far the easiest of the lady's slipper species to grow and the most vigorous, and I find them awesome garden plants. These are just beginning to leaf out now, as they always do in my area. The single-shooted one I bought last year; it is (was) much larger than the others at 16" tall and with a 4" flower, but doesen't seem to want to multiply just yet. It is growing in 70% shade in my shady border. The quad-shooted one was my very first successful lady's slipper, in its third year in my garden. It started out in 2004 with two shoots and one flower. Last year it had 4 shoots and three flowers. This year looks about the same. It's growing in half shade under a tree. The many-shooted one has nine shoots. I bought it last fall at a plant sale completely dormant; I checked it out to make sure it was healthy and bought it; I got it for $20 reg. $40! It looked like it had 4 or 5 shoots last year and should bloom for the first time this year (it might've bloomed last year; it was hard to tell). It's growing with my new parviflorum under a spruce tree in half shade. I'm guessing 3-5 flowers.

Iris pallida 'Aureo Variegata'

Here is a nicer pic of the Iris I bought last weekend, now in my coldframe.

More bloomers

The top pic shows Bergenia cordifolia, an excellent groundcover for the shady border or rock garden with glossy, leathery leaves which are dark green in the summer and deep wine-red in the fall and winter, and small clusters of magenta flowers in the early spring. This is a young plant which I planted last year. The bottom pic shows Aquilegia 'Winky Blue & White', a nice garden hybrid columbine. They usually bloom starting in the end of May and into June and even July here; I bought this plant early and so it is blooming early.

Pulsatilla vulgaris

Pasqueflower - as I mentioned before - is an awesome early spring bloomer for the rock garden. Here's the standard form - this pic was taken last week.

Early Spring Shopping 4

More pics of plants I purchased lats weekend. On the top - Trillium erectum. It goes by many names, including red trillium, purple trillium, red or purple wake-robin, trinity flower, birthroot, stinking benjamin and many more. The last name is from a wet dog-like scent in the flower which is actually very mild. On the bottom, something a little more recognizable: Aconitum 'Stainless Steel', my favorite monkshood which I have lusted for for a long while.