showy lady's slipper orchid
Cypripedium reginae
RHS AGM 2012
USDA zones2 to 7
SunNeeds partial sun (4 to 6 hours)
WaterHandles moderate to moist soil
Size2 to 3 feet tall12 to 24 inches wide
- Habit
- Herb
- Bloom season
- Spring, summer
- Bloom color
- White , pink
- Soil types
- Loam
- Soil pH
- Acid, alkaline, neutral
Garden uses
Notes
Showy lady's slipper orchid (Cypripedium reginae) is a perennial for borders, containers, and low maintenance gardens. It is hardy to USDA zone 2, or down to -50°F (-46°C). This plant likes part sun and average to moist, loamy soil. Each stout, hairy stalk bears one to three large white and pink flowers with a pouch-like lip petal. Gardeners should protect this orchid from picking, since it has been overpicked in the wild.
Pairs well with American maidenhair fern, Crested wood fern, and Spring Beauty Siberian squill.
Native range
Europe, Central Asia, Asia, Africa, and 14 more places. See all 18
Europe, Central Asia, Asia, Africa, Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, Chita, Irkutsk, Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Krym, Manchuria, NW. Balkan Pen., Primorye, Sakhalin, Tuva, and Yakutiya.