Greenwich Time - Orchids

Orchids, for most of us, are those tough but elegant tropical house plants well known for gracing bridal bouquets and showhouse tables. But orchids are a huge family, maybe the largest family of flowering plants in the world, with representatives on every continent save Antarctica. Many of us have enjoyed the greenhouse variety. But few of us know, or grow, the equally elegant and hardy terrestrial orchids that thrive in the wild throughout North America and often can be cultivated in patio containers or backyard gardens.

Over 200 species, in fact, can be found growing from Florida to Alaska and a good number are worth cultivating in the Northeast. Since most like shaded or semishaded conditions, they are naturals for woodland and edge-of-woods settings. Divided into upland, transition and wetland species, depending on their moisture requirements, all prefer a degree of dampness. Most are modest eaters with low nutrient requirements. And while these beautiful flowers may look too fragile to survive a frost, it's the soil requirements and drainage that usually do in the hardy orchids.

Opening night was last evening for one of my own garden's showstoppers: the hardy orchid Cypripedium pubescens. The large yellow lady's slipper (make that two, for this year's performance features twins) with the prominent slipper-shaped lip of bright yellow likes the damp, shaded border on the north side of the garden. Drainage is good, compost and decaying leaves are abundant, and the neighbors -- hostas, bleeding hearts, lilies -- look good together. Given these conditions, my lady slipper and her siblings, with graceful maroonish petals and flamboyant waxy lips, do well. The most common of the group found in North America, this orchid has been easy to grow, unlike her cousin, C. acaule, the pink lady's slipper. When I planted the yellow variety, I also tried the pink, a well-known prize and native to our part of the country, which I had seen growing in abundance in the Norfolk garden of Edward Childs. But the pink is a more demanding performer and mine didn't like my digs. According to William Mathis, who has just written a definitive, well illustrated book on growing these hardy terrestrials ("The Gardener's Guide to Growing Hardy Perennial Orchids," The Wild Orchid Company, $24.95; (215) 297-5053 or www.WildOrchidCompany.com), these fussy ladies prefer a well-drained soil mix of peat, sand and Perlite with a low pH, between 3.5 and 5.0.

But then all orchids, says Mathis, will perform better and live longer, healthier lives in well-drained soil. "Excess moisture should move out of the root zone quickly and leave maximum soil porosity for air space," he says. Root disease is their nemesis, so even if the species is a wetland variety, it's important that fresh water flows freely around those roots.

While the lady's slippers are perhaps the best known of the hardy orchids (and there are some albeit pricey, but gorgeous hybrids), two other orchids are gaining in popularity and availability: the hardy Chinese orchid species "Bletilla," which you'll see offered in popular catalogs and whose flowers resemble little cattleyas (remember the big purple corsage orchids of years ago?) and calanthes, whose flowers are borne on spikes. Bletilla tolerate bright light and ordinary well-drained garden soil, while evergreen and clump-forming calanthes like it well-drained as well, but with some shade. Both of these will need a three-inch mulch of chopped leaves or pine needles to stabilize soil temperatures if you can't guarantee continuous snowcover over the winter.

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Sources: www.WildOrchidCompany.com, www.raisingrarities.com, www.sunfarm.com.

Coming up

* Sunday, 7 a.m.: 14th annual Spring Bird Walk, with Frank Gallo of the New Canaan Nature, sponsored by Woodway Country Club Audubon Committee. Woodway Country Club main parking lot, just south of the Merritt Parkway at 540 Hoyt St., Darien. Free. Call 322-1661.

* June 3, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.: "Magic Moments" a standard flower show of the Knollwood and Riverside garden clubs. At the Woman's Club of Greenwich, 89 Maple Ave. Free.

* Ongoing: Open Gardens. Visit gardens from coast to coast via the Open Days Directory and entrance tickets. Sponsored by the Garden Conservancy's Open Days Program. www.gardencon servancy.org/opendays.html or (888) 842-2442. Connecticut gardens open May through Sept. 10.

* June 9, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.: Secret Gardens: Pools, Ponds, Peonies Tour. New Canaan Nature Center, 144 Oenoke Ridge, New Canaan. $50/tour, $70/tour and luncheon. Call 966-9577.

* June 9, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.: Artful Garden Tour, Garden Education Center of Greenwich, Bible Street, Cos Cob. Painting, sculpture and performing arts in six Greenwich gardens. $70 /tour, $35/lunch. Call 869-9242.

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Maureen FitzPatrick writes the Sound Gardening column for The Advocate and Greenwich Time. Her e-mail address is maurdude@aol.com.