Minnesota Majesty

As if in honor of my Minnesota guests last weekend a couple of my Cypripedium reginae were in bloom. The Showy Lady's Slipper or Queen's Lady Slipper, a temperate terrestrial orchid, is Minnesota's state flower. I got these plants several years ago and was surprised at how quickly they grew. They've done well for the most part and I seem to remember sending their seed to a lab at one time so chances are good that there are seedlings from my plants out there somewhere.

The news, however, isn't all good. Like my C. pubescens, this species is having a hard year in my garden. Of the five stems I have, one looks severely battered, probably from the storms we had a while back. Another two-stem clump got one broken off just after it emerged by a falling branch, the other pictured here was murdered by a rodent just the other day. Despite their delicate appearance I'm finding they're tough plants and have no reason to believe they won't recover and do better next year.