Hi JD,welcome to New England.Beautiful lady slipper too,I don't know alot about them,but I do know that they do not like to be transplanted.Hopefully someone else more knowledgable will be able to help you out.

You are so lucky to have seen a lady slipper, but you should not have moved it. (You didn't say specifically that you did, but I think that's implied.) Their growing requirements are extremely, extremely specific. Also, it may be illegal to move them as I believe they are a protected species.

Next time, leave them be as a magical, beautiful thing in the woods. If you leave them where they are, you will find them in that same area year after year, just waiting for you.

I forgot to mention that it will most certainly die in your garden no matter what you do. (If you read about them, you will see that they need certain fungi in the soil as well as other very specific soil and sun conditions.)

Hi,
Wecome to a beautiful if meteorologically challenged part of the country. I'm sorry to add to the chorus of woodland preservationists, but I am also certain that princess pine is on the endangered list here. Many New England mature forests are lost to development and it continues unabated. . We experienced a lot of loss of Princess Pine to the 'floral industry' when it was common to put in Christmas terrariums and decorations.

Your excitement is contagious! So take it and your wallet to a beautiful place called Garden in the Woods, which is part of the New England Wildflower Society in Framingham, Ma. You can buy wildflowers there that have been propogated legally from tissue culture, and raised in medium that will transplant and succeed in your garden much more easily than from the wild. If you want to make a day of it, not very far from Framingham is Blanchette's Nursery in Carlisle MA. Leo Blanchette has many, many wildflowers and plants native to New England that he has propogated vegetatively or from seed.

I couldn't see where you live, but if you are within driving distance of Concord, MA I'd like to invite you to the Greater Boston ARea plant swap this Saturday from 10-12. If you are relatively "local" we;d love to be your new gardening community of friends, and help you along in your New England ventures. There are very active GW groups in New Hampshire and Connecticut.

Again welcome to this beautiful part of the country. Where are you from and how did you end of here?

Marie aka "Idabean" (a long since departed beagle who lives on in this screenname)

Believe it or not, there are actually some other orchids native to Connecticut! Here is a link posted previously, by evonnestoryteller: http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/galleryp.html
I hope you enjoy it! I really did!

Here is a link that might be useful: arethusa

JayDee,
Here is a link to the Garden in the Woods website for you. They do sell lady slippers at their nursery, and every January they have an extensive seed and spore catalogue.

FYI, princess pine isn't a tree, it's a moss, and it's another plant that won't transplant well.

I don't know where you were digging, but it sounds like you are new to, and enthusiastic about, gardening with natives. Welcome to the club! :) Just so you know, it's a good idea if you are transplanting from your own property, or from property where you have the owner's permission, to research what you intend to dig before digging it, so that you don't find out too late that you have doomed the plant or killed something that you're going to feel rotten about later.

I am 98% sure that it is legal to do whatever you want to plants on your own property, endangered and protected species included. So if you are digging from your own property, it's up to you how much research you feel like doing, how much repair you want to do to the dug-up area, etc.

Please don't dig from the wild, unless you are killing invasive non-native plants. In which case, have fun! ;)

There is a natives forum around here somewhere that you might like. Hope to see you there!

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden in the Woods

Hi everyone,

Thanks for sharing my enthusiasum! Lots of info on the net about Lady Slippers, the official flower of NH! They pretty much echoed the forums sediments, hard to move and propogate, should have just left it alone, oh well...live and learn I guess.

I also wanted to clarify: the princess pines were being MOVED to a better location from our wooded area to around the sides of our back yard to get it more 'winter feature' and allow them some more space to grow away from the oak and maple trees. Don't worry, it's only a few of the smaller saplings, I would never dream of digging up a plant off my property or destroying nature's beautiful setting. I even left alone the poion ivy I found back there last yr :-) Moreover, I'm just trying to enhance my current back yard to reflect a more natural state with only native NE perennials. (I love pine trees!) Ok, I am also trying to grow Sunflowers too if my cat would stop using the seedlings bed as a litter box long enough!

stoloniferous: thank you for the link to Garden in the Woods, I have heard great things about it and look fwd to going there soon! I live very close to Tower Hill, just around the corner actually and haven't had a chance to go there yet either.

idabean: 'Wecome to a beautiful if meteorologically challenged part of the country', LOL! You are not kidding, it's very different from where I'm from but I'm enjoying watching the season's happen here. I am attending the Concord plant swap, really looking fwd to it actually!

I hail from SF Bay Area, and yes everyone there and everyone in New England thinks I'm nuts for moving here. So far after 1 yr, I haven't died of shock when snow touches my skin, the spring/summer rain is welcomed in my garden, and fall is just spectacular! My impression is that Boston is very similar to San Francisco, only less expensive :-) We live in Berlin, waaay out in Metro-West and love it. I'm pretty sure there are more horses than people here.

Thanks again everyone for the clarification on my Lady Slipper!

JD.

JD, let me echo the (year late) welcome-- and you're so lucky to be close to Tower Hill! I really enjoyed my visit there last year.