The author of the text is Dr. Katarzyna Wróblewska
The Orchidaceae family has about 25,000 species, gathered in 750 genera.Among this we alth are not only exotic beauties from tropical regions of the world.Numerous species (about 40) can also be found in the Polish flora.
Unlike most canopy tropical orchids, native orchids such as the cuckoo Dactylorhhiza are terrestrial species with relatively small flowers, but gathered in attractive inflorescences.The exception is the Cypripedium calceolus slipper with unusual burgundy-yellow flowers resembling tropical Paphiopedilum sabots.
Due to their decorative nature, most of the native species can be treated as ornamental plants, but the fact that they are protected plants, often seriously endangered, is a problem for their cultivation in gardens.No it is allowed to replant them from their natural positions, also because this procedure is very rarely successful.
Increasingly, however, various species of orchids appear in trade, especially in Western nurseries, where they are multiplied in vitro.In addition to typical species, there are also many garden hybrids with larger inflorescences and more reliable in cultivation.The richness of orchids is increased by species of foreign origin, which work well in our conditions.
Unique simple shoe
The common slipper is the most unusual of the native species of orchids.The underground rhizomes have raised shoots up to 40 centimeters in height, ending in a single flower with a characteristic structure.A special decoration is a yellow bloated lip and protruding, narrow, maroon sepals of the perianth. Flowers appear in May, in summer the above-ground shoots die off.
Before this happens, the plants are decorated with broad-lanceolate leaves with distinct veins.The slipper naturally occurs on the outskirts of beech and hornbeam forests in southern Poland. In the garden, similar conditions should be created: a slightly shaded position and a permeable, but moist (in case of drought, water) soil with a neutral or slightly alkaline pH, rich in humus.
Left in one place for a longer period, it forms nicely expanded clumps after a few years.the North American royal shoe Cypripedium reginae with white-pink flowers or the Asian large-flowered shoe Cypripedium macranthos with pink-burgundy flowers. The slippers are reproduced by dividing the expanded clumps at the turn of August and September.
The other native orchids are species of the genus Orchis, resembling those of the cuckoo genus.In contrast to them, they are very rarely found in gardens, although they occur in various positions.The most popular in Poland, the cuckoo orchid, Orchis militaris, is not picky about the place of cultivation. It thrives both on dry grasslands, wet meadows and in fringe communities. Roundworms, e.g. red Cephalantera rubra, are very attractive, but also unknown as ornamental plants.
Other interesting varieties of native orchids
Bletilla striped Bletilla striata is a rhizome species that forms upright stems with long leaves and purple flowers collected, 6-8 per shoot.It has similar requirements as a shoe. Coming from China and Japan, bletilla in the warmest regions of Poland (Pomerania, especially Western, Lower Silesia) can winter in the garden under a winter cover made of pine needles or nonwoven.In other areas, it is safer to treat it as a plant that does not winter in the ground - when planted in pots, we lower it in the garden, and in autumn we move it to a cold, but frost-free room.
As a plant that does not winter in the ground, we can also cultivate Pleione formosana (it is only 20 centimeters high). It flowers in May, before the leaves develop. When it dies down in autumn, its pseudo-tubers are stored at 2-5 ° C.
