Long story short, a need for some photos forced me to bring my cyps out of dormancy early this year. Much to my surprise, my C. candidum from Post Hill was the first to emerge, and the first to bloom. I'm also somewhat surprised at how well the plants are doing in windowsill culture.

It is a three growth plant, and all three growths are blooming this year. It was taken out of dormancy on March 17th. It was stored under a porch, and the winter was nice and cold.

I've impatiently waited for this bloom to open all week, and while the dorsal sepal needs to pop up a bit more, I'm more than pleased. Since candidum is not particularly common, and really rare west of Ohio, I've never seen it in the wild, or in person. I'm surprised at how small the blooms are, but I like them because of their coloring, and because the transparent window is very visible on the white flowers. The flowers do have purple lines running through them, but there is also some extra purple in the background and whites of the flower due to the evening sun passing through the vinyl screen in the window. I'm somewhat concerned with how the growth currently in full bloom tilted, so I'm watching the plant to see if I need to intervene.

I took a few snapshot this evening to share, and once that flower opens a little bit more, or when the next bloom opens, I'll take some more. I'll also post when my reginae and parviflorum bloom. The reg is about three inches high now, and the parv is just breaking the surface. I was not expecting them to emerge is this order, but whatever.

very very pretty:heart::Party::heart:

Gorgeous flowers and you sure know how to grow them indoors! The flowers look very tiny how big are they?

Beautiful!! They do look quite small!

Gorgeous flowers and you sure know how to grow them indoors! The flowers look very tiny how big are they?

I'll post some more detailed photos in the next day or two, and I'll include something for size comparison. I'd say the pouch is about the size of a nickel.

Wow! Ron sent you a nice plant for sure...not too many of these going around period, so you're pretty lucky. Indeed a very rare plant in the wild these days.

Very nice plants and pictures.

Beautiful plants! Very well done!

Wow...super cool plants...nice pics!:cool:

Beautiful plants!

Thanks for sharing!

Wow nice!!!

Beautiful! Good job! :thumbsup:

I'll post some more detailed photos in the next day or two, and I'll include something for size comparison. I'd say the pouch is about the size of a nickel.

That is quite a bit smaller than I expected! It is a miniature!

Oh... Did I mention the flowers are VERY fragrant? The odor is an odd Rose & mildew funk, and fills the room I have the plants in, which is a good and a bad thing. ;)

More pics coming soon...

That is very interesting. Looking forward to the pictures.

How wonderful! I can't wait to see more!:hyper:

Oh... Did I mention the flowers are VERY fragrant? The odor is an odd Rose & mildew funk, and fills the room I have the plants in, which is a good and a bad thing. ;)

More pics coming soon...

Super cool...:cool:

Okay...

More pictures. I've put three representative photos right here in my post. The rest are in my Photo.net portfolio, because there are so many. That portfolio is at: http://photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=907230 The photos will not be left up for long, because I have an issue with several foreign web photo aggregators stealing my photos. More on the way, to include size comparison, and the third bloom which recently opened. It is nearly half the size of the other two!

As an aside... A minor cultivation note for anybody interested in growing cyps indoors, or in pots otherwise inside or under a structure. Because cyps grow so fast compared to most orchids people are familiar with, you might be shocked how quickly these plants shift orientation for optimum sunlight. To keep my plants straight I need to rotate them daily, sometimes two or three times daily, and if I forget it takes two-three days to straighten them out. Candidum seems much worse than reginae, although my reginae isn't in bloom yet.

Still no major movement from the parviflorum, but the reginae looks on schedule to bloom next early to mid next month.

very very nice pretty:heart::heart::heart:ty

Beautiful flowers! Wonderful photography!

Thanks for sharing!

Wow very very nice!!!

What lovely flowers! Gorgeous plants thank you!

Fantastic cyp plants...lovely blooms:cool:

I'm still trying to find my darned ruler to get a height measurement of the plants, but I've attached some size comparisons of all three shoots' blooms, both with a nickel and a dime.

I've also attached a size comparison for my reginae. The reginae is putting out incredible growth, and it seems to be accelerating as I increase my watering as it grows. The candidum has been getting water every other or every third day since it bloomed, and I've put the reginae on a similar schedule. I've been giving the parviflorum less water until it actually puts on some growth, because I'm afraid it will rot otherwise. It is finally pushing up a noticable amount, and the growth is a nice medium green, so it shouldn't take much longer.

Great looking flower. Thanks for taking the time to show us the size of the flower. Very nice pictures.

very very nice pretty:heart::heart::heart:

Beautiful flower! Wonderful photography!

Thanks for sharing!

That is tiny indeed! A little jewel.

That is really tiny! Beautiful shots!

I found my ruler.

C. candidum:
- Shoot #1: 12" tall, bloom 3/4" x 1/2" x 1/2"
- Shoot #2: 10.5" tall, bloom 3/4" x 1/2" x 1/2"
- Shoot #3: 8" tall, bloom 1/2" x 3/8" x 3/8"

C. reginae:
- Shoot #1: 9" and growing

C. parviflorum var. parviflorum:
- Shoot #1: 5mm and growing. ;)

Very tiny and beautiful! Nice pictures!

Great pictures!!

Well... Good news and bad news.

The bad news... The first bloom to open looks like it is starting to decline. Two telltale pin-head sized brown specs have appeared, so the blooms days are certainly numbered.

The good news... Besides the fact that the plant appears to be doing quite nicely, the fragrance has improved dramatically in the past few days. It started off almost offensive, with hints of mildew. It now is a much more floral/fruity aroma, very sweet, but with a definate "flower" character.

Well... Good news and bad news.

The bad news... The first bloom to open looks like it is starting to decline. Two telltale pin-head sized brown specs have appeared, so the blooms days are certainly numbered.

The good news... Besides the fact that the plant appears to be doing quite nicely, the fragrance has improved dramatically in the past few days. It started off almost offensive, with hints of mildew. It now is a much more floral/fruity aroma, very sweet, but with a definate "flower" character.

That sounds like an interesting fragrance!

Super cool pics...lovely bloom!

Well, I was right... This morning I discovered the blooms had all begun to shrivel. April 15/16th to April 25/26th, so somewhere between 10 and 11 days worth of bloom. Much longer than I expected in relatively dry indoor culture.

Wow. Just as a note, the blooms on candidum dry up FAST. They showed the first signs two days ago, and are now totally shriveled.

On a sad note, it looks like my Cypripedium parviflorum var. parviflorum is deceased. It was struggling to break dormancy, so it wasn't an unexpected loss. I unpotted it and discovered that the roots and rhizome were totally destroyed. The plant was the most exposed to winter conditions, and we had a pretty harsh winter, so I'm pretty sure it probably was due to the vernalization conditions. The thriving candidum and reginae make up for the loss.

Thank you for posting all the updates and very sorry to hear about your deceased Cyps. Better luck next time!