Many people associate orchids with tropical decorative plants in pots, but it is worth knowing that also in Poland there are over 40 species, and some of them can be successfully grown in the garden.The most spectacular species is Cypripedium calceolus, but let's also look at others. Their flowers are not as large as those of their tropical cousins, but are nonetheless very interesting.
One of the most beautiful Polish orchids is Epipactis palustris. Its flowers are clustered in the form of a loose cluster on a single, non-branching shoot, which reaches about 50 cm in height.Usually there are 15 to 20 flowers, they develop gradually from the bottom of the stem.Flowering peak is in mid-June and July.
The helleborine flowers are more than a centimeter in diameter, the petals of the perianth are greenish-brown on the outside, cream inside, slightly pink. pink veins.The flower stalk is hairy. Even though the flowers do not smell and produce nectar, they are visited by pollen-hunting insects.
In unfavorable weather conditions, when pollinators do not fly during prolonged rain, the helleborine flowers self-pollinate. Quite long, distended bags are formed, which, when ripe, sprinkle thousands of tiny seeds with each hit or gust of wind.
Helium vegetation and development
Kruszczyk starts vegetation in mid-April. First, a rosette of lanceolate, sharp-pointed rough leaves grows from the underground rhizome, and after two months a flower shoot is formed.As helleborine produces long underground stolons, there are more flowering plants each year and the clump takes up more and more terrain. Fortunately, however, helleborine is not as intense as couch grass and does not threaten other plantings in the garden. In the company of crumbs, let's not plant too tall plants, so that they do not drown them too much.
The plant is easily multiplied by dividing expanded clumps after the resumption of vegetation in spring or autumn after flowering. Underground runners are relatively shallow below the surface, so the soil near the plants should not be loosened, so as not to damage them. It is better to mulch its surface, which will protect it from losing water too quickly from the substrate.
Even at the end of the 19th century, wild orchids were very common, but nowadays, due to the degradation of their natural habitats, they are becoming rarer and dying plants. All our Polish orchids, including the marsh helleborine, are under protection and must not be excavated from their natural sites.
Cultivation requirements
Apart from the beauty of flowers, the great advantage of helleborine is total frost resistance - it does not require any covering for the winter and will do well even in mountain gardens.Because in nature it grows in wet and swampy areas, peat bogs, meadows, also in the garden, we must provide it with a moist position.It prefers light partial shade, but it will also grow in full sun, provided that it is watered regularly.It can be planted on the edge of a pond, e.g. in the company of bulrushes, marsh or marigolds.
