Long Live The Queen
Commonly called the Showy Lady's Slipper, I prefer to call Cypripedium reginae the "Queen's Slipper", for truly, to me,
it reigns as the monarch of the native North American orchids. The habitat of these magnificant plants is a bog located in Quechee, Vermont and the plants bloomed reliabily around June 16-18, the same time as the Quechee Hot Air Balloon Festival. Wearing your oldest pair of sneakers, you could walk into this bog. And I visited it on several occasions, either alone, or in the company of other orchidopiles. On one visit, I was accompanied by Paul and Elaine Sawer former owners of Sawyers Orchids in Grafton, NH. Elaine decided to hand pollinate some of the plants. I probably have not seen this bog in some 15 years, so I cannot say whether or not it is still intact. The memory, however, of this bog and it's hundreds of Cypripedium reginae with pouches ranging in color from soft pink to cherry will never leave me
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