Cypripedium reginae forma albolabium albiforma (WHITE SHOWY LADY’S-SLIPPER)

If the showy lady’s-slipper is a stunner, this pale beauty is a super-stunner. Exquisite in every respect, otherwise identical in habit to the “standard” pink/white form. It is a northern species whose range extends from Atlantic Canada and western Ontario, south through the lower Great Lakes and into the Appalachians. Homoya (Orchids of Indiana, 1993) has this to say about the orchid’s preferred habitat: “The principal habitat of Cypripedium reginae in Indiana is best defined by the effect it has on one visiting it: up to your knees (maybe higher!) in muck.” Indeed, it demands moisture and an open aspect to thrive. Its native haunts include fens, circumneutral swamps and bogs, and other seepage communities. It’s well-worth the effort of accommodating these preferences, if you don’t have them naturally on your property. At our nursery, it does well in a 4:1 mix of perlite and coir and also a mineral-based medium of granite grit, Turface, pea stone, perlite, and some oyster shells.