Calypso Bulbosa/Fairy Slipper

[Aki_James]

The wonderful Calypso bulbosa var. americana

I do not support the collection of any wild plants unless they are 100% doomed to death, and the appropriate legal steps have been taken to collect the plants.

I rescued these orchids from a subdivision development near my property with the permission of my provincial government. (well not these exact ones as these are offspring of one of 6 colonies I have thriving in and around my property that I started from the more than 300 plants I hand transplanted by myself more than 5 years ago.

I have had this one 4 inch pot of these plants for many years which I started from corms that broke off during the rescue process. I actually forgot these poor guys in the back of the fridge until 3 weeks ago..I thought for sure I had killed them.

This is one of the easiest terrestrial orchids in my potted collection. I have spend many years studying this plant and have even discovered ways of propagating the plant naturally, being that the plant usually will only grow one new corm(rarely 2) a season, I have been able to get a single plant to grow up to 4 corms in a single season. I hope to someday use this to both help the orchid in nature and help with its possible use as a garden variety.

Feel free to message me if you would like more information on how I do this as it is not a hard process but can be difficult to explain lol, and well I'm kinda lazy.

I can also explain how I care for these plants as a potted plant if people want to know as well (although again, as I don't believe this plant is available on the general market, Please do not go out and try and take them from the wild, and grow them as a garden plant as they will most likely parish if removed from their natural habitat.)

For now I'm just sharing pics.

[silken]

That is so beautiful! Congrats on rescuing them and doing so well with them.

[SFLguy]

Beautiful!

[ashley05]

Beautiful!

[Cntry]

That is very beautiful. Thank you for sharing this orchids picture with us. Now if you ever want to rehome one of them keep me in mind as its so pretty. I am sure others will feel the same way once they see this one.

[geogeo21]

when we were getting our property logged, we had coral root orchids everywhere! i tried to rescue as much as i could. only so few survived as they rely on fungi to produce all their enegery for them

[naoki]

Wonderful! I should go check if Calypso in our neighbor is close to flowering. I would love to know all of the tips of growing this species in details if you don't mind. It would be a nice contribution! It appears that you are growing indoor under light? There are several people in Europe who has been successfully growing them (from seeds to seeds), and I have been checking out how they are growing them. So symbiotic propagation of this species is quite possible. C. b. americana seems to be more difficult, though, so it is a quite an achievement!

[RosieC]

Really beautiful, these are gorgeous!

[Paphluvr]

Congratulations on the rescue.

[No-Pro-mwa]

Good for you saving them. they are so cute.