Orchids Gone Wild

Have you ever thought about growing orchids in your garden? That’s right, in your garden outdoors.

Not so long ago, orchids were considered to be plants that only collectors and those with greenhouses could and would grow. You would have been hard-pressed to find an orchid plant for under $50. And yet now they’re often sold for as little as ten bucks.

Once thought to be hard to grow and only for the experienced gardener, they are now commonplace. And some are downright simple to care for.

But for those up for a little challenge, there are more than 20 orchid species that are hardy and native to our area and can be grown outdoors year-round. Beyond those 20, there are well over 100 hybrids and cultivars of these species that make wonderful garden plants. While some are easy, even considered weeds by some, the most exotic and beautiful are not for the faint of heart or those who are not up to a challenge.

I was totally unaware that orchids grow wild on the East End until I was running a seaside gardening seminar and one of the speakers, naturalist and biologist Larry Penny, was reviewing plants that naturally grew in the sand dunes. He noted the usual—beach pea, beach wormwood, dune grasses—and then he showed a slide of an orchid colony that was thriving in the sand dunes of Montauk.

That’s right, in the sand dunes.

The colony was rare. While not protected, Mr. Penny wouldn’t tell anyone the exact location of the colony for fear that poachers and collectors would decimate them.

Fast forward to 2007 when I was hiking on an old farm road in the Catskills. The sides of the dirt road were steep but the floor of the hemlock and birch forest was densely carpeted with ferns and wildflowers.

About 15 feet off the side of the road and about 5 feet above me, a flower caught my eye. I took my camera out of my pack and headed over to check out something I’d never seen. It was a wild pink lady’s slipper orchid,

cypripedium acaule

.

As I scanned the woods heading up the hill, I saw another, then another and another. In all, I counted 30 of the plants, all in bloom and in their untouched natural magnificence.

Since that first discovery I’ve gone back to the same spot dozens of times to study the colony. The thrill of getting to know them still excites me at each visit.

Now I’ve found that the colony is much larger than the first 30 plants I found. It seems there are well over 100, to as many as 200, plants in various stages of maturity.

Unfortunately, it’s a frailty of human desire that doesn’t allow us to simply admire these plants in their natural habitat. The urge to bring one home soon sets in. And while this wild and hardy orchid—that also grows from Westhampton to Montauk—isn’t protected by law or yet considered endangered, it is considered threatened by just those people who can’t stand to observe it in its natural habitat.

Sadly, the great majority of those who poach these plants end up killing them. Their cultural requirements are quite precise and to simply dig them from the wild and plant them in the backyard garden is nearly pointless and shouldn’t be tried. Even horticulturists who tried to transplant these orchids from areas where development was threatening colonies ended up with disastrous results.

It was originally thought that these orchids could survive only in special soils that contained a specific fungus that cohabitated with the orchid’s roots in a necessary symbiotic relationship. That theory has had some holes poked in it. As the fungus was isolated, and even when it was present in the soil where the transplanting took place, the majority of the orchids would fail and die after several years.

It’s now believed that the fungus is necessary for the germination of the orchid’s seeds and not the survival of the mature plants. But transplanting the mature plants still remains vexing.

The good news is that you can grow these orchids at home successfully without taking them from the wild. For about 20 years, a number of horticulturists and nurseries have been learning not only how to grow the orchids en masse using tissue-culturing techniques but they have hybridized them and found others in different parts of the world. Thus, they have created lady’s slipper orchids that are both hardy and exquisite.

Prices can range from $30 to $200 but I would not recommend buying one then learning how to grow it. Learn how to grow this flower first, then experiment with the less expensive ones and move up to the more costly varieties only when you feel confident.

I’ve read of gardeners who have poached lady slippers and even professionals who have found an orchid in the wild and “successfully” transplanted it to a home garden only to have it die two years later. In one instance I read of a man who transplanted one, grew it on for three years and then it “disappeared,” only to come back and flower two years later.

We have a lot to learn from and about this plant.

Remember, though, that the lady’s slipper isn’t the only hardy orchid that you can grow.

I was at a book sale several weeks ago, and lo and behold, there was a spiral-bound copy of “Orchids of New England and New York.” Sure enough, there’s a section on eastern Long Island, where 28 hardy orchid species were documented in 1993.

Some of these hardy species grow in wet situations, some in dry sand, some in sun, some in shade. Some are incredibly colorful, others not.

There are easier varieties for the home gardener to start out with, such as the hardy ground orchid,

bletilla striata,

which may be the easiest and one of the least expensive.

There’s also

epipactis helleborine—

the broadleaf helleborine that I wrote about last year. Though technically an orchid, it seems to be on the verge of being a weed in many of our gardens as it can be slightly invasive. Additionally, only when you’re close up and intimate with it can you recognize that the flowers are truly that of an orchid, as the flowers are tiny but quite beautiful.

If you’re looking for something different and challenging to add to your garden, the hardy orchids are sure to capture your attention and keep it for many years. Check out the orchid selections and growing information at plantdelights.com and at raisingrarities.com. Read what these sites have to say in their “growing” sections.

There are other sources, but when buying by mail make sure you buy from a source that is raising their own orchids and not poaching. I’ve got a few other resources and links so if you want to delve in, send me an email and I’ll help you get addicted.

I planted my first lady’s slipper about a month ago. I hope/fear it is the first of many to come, but I’m starting slowly.

Keep growing.