Thanks for the kind words. I never spotted them in the wild until last year, but I found them after they had all bloomed. Believe me, I was excited back then to have come across a handful of plants. Imagine how overwhelmed I was to see hundreds of plants in bloom this year! At some point I definitely hope to have a garden of my own so that I can grow some cyps in there. It's unfortunate that acaule has such a reputation as being difficult in the garden because it's a beautiful species, but I'm sure I'll be happy with the myriad other species and hybrids that are available from legitimate retailers.

Thanks everybody! I'm going to have to read all these posts carefully b/c I know that different conditions work in different climates. For example, 3 hours of afternoon sun probably wouldn't work for me since in Maryland the afternoon sun is pretty "toasty", but 3 hours of morning sun is much cooler. I'm glad to see from some of the posts that they don't have to be wet all the time. They sound a little like fuchsia (moist but not soggy roots). About planting media, how would leaf humus work, (vs. peat moss)? And while many C. Reginae grow in alkaline conditions how critical is this and how alkaline is necessary. I have a garden along an old brick shed foundation (the shed is long gone) that has leaf humus on top of clay soil. I planted my pubescens on one side of that and I was thinking the other side (with morning sun) might be good for reginae. While I had sucess with my pubescens last year I'm definately a cyp newbie. I'm willing to take another gamble, but since I would be buying them from reputable sources (I'm thinking Vermont Lady Slipper or Roberts) and do not have an unlimited supply of $$$ I'd rather not kill them straight off. :) -Helen

Scott - I've seen opinions on the naming all over the place. My understanding is that while all the yellow slippers were originally grouped as C. calceolus (after the European/Asian native), it has generally been recognized for a couple of decades that the North American yellow slippers are C. parviflorum, and not calceolus. Disputes arise when characterizing the NA species. Some say there is only one, parviflorum, with var. parviflorum (small yellow), var. pubescens (large yellow) and var. makasin (this last confuses me, something about wet vs. dry habitat). Others elevate var. pubescens into its own species. I shade toward the latter opinion, mostly to shorten what I have to write on tags :-) There are even some Euro-centric taxonomists that express doubt that C. kentuckiense is a valid species, preferring to put it as a var. of parviflorum. This makes no sense to me.

...It most probably is.........I say Don't. I am familiar with two of the US native Cyps,, (Cyp.acaule, and Cyp. calceolus var pbesces) and here is my take on the matter. Acaule is he pink lady's slipper, and is the easiest of the two to reestablish -- IF you can duplicate the symbiotic relationship it has with another plant in order to survive in the wild. We find these frequently in the Smoky Mountains, and down into the upstate of SC. They are always found in hardwood forests but also ONLY found growing in association with one particular plant that frequently appears in patches within those hardwood forests. You go into the hardwood forest and look for these other plants and most of the time the "pinks" are growing there. If you remove the plants from this specific niche environment it will decline and die in a year or two. The second Cyp. naïve to the same area is parviflorm, or the yellow lady's slipper. This plant is found in the same mountain hardwood forests as the pinks, but always in spring or stream fed valleys or gullies. It prefers a decidedly wet location along the banks of running or trickling water. I know of none of these that have ever been successfully relocated, but in reality only know of one real profssional attempt to move several plants from a construction site.....none survived. Both these plants are, or probably should be on the protected list. I have never seen either species in the wild carrying a seed pod. Supposedly there are those who do reproduce them by seed and sell them as small plants. I am very fond of both these species, and go far out of my way to do all I can to protect them, which explains why I am so vague about how to locate them in the wild. To find a patch of pinks blooming in the early spring is truly an inspiring sight, and to see the regal stalk of yellows looking out over the tops of the other plants alongside a spring runoff makes a long and difficult search more than worthwhile. Take a trip into the deep mountain forests in your state, they are there, and seeing them thriving in nature is much more enjoyable than watching them wither and die in your yard. edit: There is some dispute about which Cyp. the yellow slipper is. I used the "Wild Flowers of North Carolina by William S. Justice and C. Rtchie Bell 1968 edition as my field guide many years ago when I took the following photos. No matter which, they are beautiful flowers. Bill