Lady Slipper

In New England, we don't have many native flowers that are spectacular - even fewer are in the orchid family. But, we do have native lady slippers. These gems are super sensitive and we nearly lost them into the dark reaches of extinction. Now they are protected. It's illegal to dig them up or sell them unless they are painstakingly grown in captivity. To buy a lady slipper, even one of our rather bland ones, you'd have to spend more than 50 bucks and would have no guarantee of a safe transplanting.

I found a spot near my sister's house where I counted 45 plants. They range from nearly all white to deep pink. I'm sure there are more out there, on that piece of land that I didn't see. I am planning to go back with a camera later this week...... here are some shots taken by others.





Lady slippers grow in forests primarily made up of oak and pine. They need a bacteria (or some other little entity) to exist and they have those brittle, thick roots that all other orchids seem to have. The plants can take many years to go from seed to flower and are more often propagated (I think - could be wrong) from the root. Other varieties of slipper orchids are much more showy in shape and color. But I have a soft spot for our native ones shown above.