Garden orchids

@CarolineL Only 4 of the Cypripedium calceolus have produced flowers this year. Have cut them off hopefully to allow the plant to build up more reserves.

A beautiful flower and hope more will establish.

 

I have a couple of half pans with pleonie formosana rhizomes planted which come up each year and flower, no special attention. I have given my daughter a pan of them, not sure how hers are doing, I must remember to ask.
In the last few years I have had self sown common spotted orchids growing in containers and a couple in the garden, flowering well, and again, no particular attention.
I have left them alone as I feel if they have self sown and grown they are getting what they need. I gave my neighbour's Dad a pot with a well grown plant to transfer to his piece of woodland he bought recently. Again, I must ask if it has survived.

 

@On the Levels that looks lovely! You have more willpower than I to cut them off! I was due to receive a mixed set from Hayloft plants, but they've delayed them till late June! If/when I get them, I'm going to follow your method of growing them in your layered pots.

@Goldenlily26 I love pleiones! I used to be so good at propagating them that the spares would go to a local nursery and I'd get a little money for compost. For some reason I've lost my touch, so I've bought a few varieties and trying again.
I have spotted orchid and spiranthes that were freebies in other plants from a local nursery. Spotted orchid are quite robust but spiranthes seems picky. Epipactis can be good in garden too.

 

I used to drive past an old Cornish stone wall topped with soil where each year there was a wonderful display of wild orchids. It was a busy corner and no pavement so I was never able to find out which orchid. Then the wall was repaired, sadly no more orchids.
I always thought they needed dappled moist conditions but mine grow in the open in baking sun in the summer, no shade of any kind. One is growing in the middle of a dwarf banana plant in a container.

 

@On the Levels - a follow up on my cypripediums from Hayloft. They kept delaying and then told me they were having trouble with plant passports. In the end I think they sourced some Ulla Silkens and reginae from somewhere else, so I got those and a couple of epipactis. In the meantime time I got some reduced price ones from Jacques Amand (ex Chelsea display). So now I'm putting a raised bed together to give them better drainage.

 

@CarolineL Good luck with your orchids. Ours have died back and we keep thinking that we will divide some of them and plant them in the ground, but nervous to do so as we don't want to lose them.

 

I'm not surprised @On the Levels - they're so pricey! I'm just debating what mix to put in the raised bed. It's 80cm tall (ish) and so I plan to put a lot of old stones in the bottom to improve drainage. However there are different views on the compost. Some say peat, leafmould and loam with lots of gritty sand, whereas others say no organic material! For convenience I think I'll use something close to what the JA plants came in - MPC or peat with lots of gravel