Here is Cypripedium Philipp in my garden in May, 2004. This is another hybrid registered by Frosch, in 1996. It is another attempt to get the red coloration of Cyp macranthos into an easy to grow species, Cyp kentuckiense. Cyp kentuckiense has the largest flower of any Cyp except the Mexican species - which are truly enormous. Philipp inherits the size of kentuckiense and has the largest flowers of any Cypripedium hybrid. Like many Cypripedium hybrids, this one varies a fair amount from clone to clone. This is the only one I have but I have seen some in which the base color is a very fine, very light salmon color that seems to glow - I am looking for one in bloom to purchase but these are not exactly the kind of plants one finds in quantity at the local nursery! I have a colony of magnificient kentuckiense and a very bright red macranthos - I plan to make my own recross to see what I can get.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/fundulopanchax/Cypripedium/CypripediumPhilipp22May2004.jpg

Ron Burch
fundulopanchax
Wilton CT

Where are these plants found? I have family in Kentucky all over the state plus I live in SW Ohio and I would love to see these in their natural habitat.

Ron, Does the dorsal come up more naturally? or not? just curious. I'm learning so much about these wonderful plants! Thank you for your very informative posts!

I'd love to see the macranthos also.

Most of the American Cypripediums have very upright petals, however Cyp macranthos, one of the parents of this hybrid, has a helmet-like dorsal petal that does come forward over the remainder of the flower (much more pronounced than even in this hybrid) - in fact when one sees a new hybrid it is always clear that macranthos is a parent when one sees this characteristic. I will be making posts of some of the various macranthos that I have.

Ron Burch

Ron, a couple of questions...

Are there many people out there hybridizing cyps like you are?

What is the large Mexican species of cyp and do you have photos?

What be the source for decent-sized reginae that you would recommend? Since you have said they are the easiest I'm thinking about trying a few.

Thanks in advance!

There are a fairly large number of people who hybridize Cypripediums. The pioneers are Frosch in Germany (the URL below is a portion of Frosch's site but is run by Weinart for him) and Carson Whitlow in the United States (look him up on the web at Cyp Haven). If you want to see the really serious Cyp people, look at this web site (and be prepared to be completely overwhelmed):

http://www.cypripedium.de/forum/

There are many good places to purchase Cypripediums. Usually plants are shipped only in late autumn or early spring while they are dormant. My own Cyp reginae (since you asked about them specifically) came from Vermont Ladyslipper (they have an excellent web site - look at the shots of their shadehouses. This is one of the earliest commercial growers in the US.

For those who want to see photos of all the species and hybrids see the personal part of the Frosch website at:

http://www.w-frosch.onlinehome.de/menu_e.htm


Ron Burch

Philipp photographed 29May2005. This is the same plant as above but progressed one year - now two stems, each with a flower, and somewhat better color than last year.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/fundulopanchax/Cypripedium/CypPhilipp29May2005closeuplabel.jpg

Ron

BEE YOU TEA FULL!!!! Wowzer!!!!

That's gorgeous!

Just lovely! :clap2:

They are nice, and the slippers are bigger than extra large chicken eggs.

Ron

Wow, seriously? This may be one of my favorites! I like the red and yellow combination very much!!!