Nodding Lady Tresses

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$11.95

Ease to Grow: Easy
Dormancy: Required
Native Range: Peat Bogs of Eastern and Central North America
Zones: 5-9 (4-10)

Nodding Lady Tresses, Spiranthes odorata, is a delightful fall blooming bog orchid with a spiral of white flowers on a tall stem. Each blossom "nods", or tips down slightly, giving it its name. Lips are wavy and tinted yellow. There can be 10 to 50+ flowers on a stalk, looking like small white stair cases winding up a castle turret. Lady Tresses flowers are fragrant and bloom from late summer until after the first frost. Leaves are long and lanceolate, usually 3-5 per plant. The Lady Tresses Orchid is a bog plant that grows in open, acidic bogs with sphagnum moss, but is adaptable to drier, upland conditions, as long as the soil remains damp during flowering. It does best in wet conditions, and frequently sends out a stolon budding small plants. It is an adaptable and vigorous grower. Seeds are very fine and dust like, spread by the wind, producing volunteers readily throughout the collection or bog garden. It is winter hardy, and should be protected from rodents during dormancy. Mulch with 4+" of pine needles in the Fall. Leave at least a 1" of needles after spring cleanup. The rhizomes can be stored in damp sphagnum at 35°F (2°C) in a refrigerator for 3 or 4 months. Water with rain/distilled water, they are sensitive to mineral buildup. It spreads nicely and grows well among pitcher plants. It is an autumn treasure, and makes good cut flowers.

Our plants are not collected from the wild, and are propagated from root divisions of plants in our collection.
For Lady Tresses size refers to age of plants. Small (1 year), medium (2-3 years), large [floweringsize] (4+ years).

Plants are shipped bare-root, wrapped in damp sphagnum moss. In it's dormant season, it will be shipped as a dormant root/rhizome. Photographs are representative of species and not the specific plant(s) for sale.

Height: 2" - 6"
Plant Type: Perennial, cold temperate
Soil: Bog Orchid Mix
Soil pH: 4-5
Light: Full to Partial Sun
Use: Grows best outdoors in the bog garden or pots. 

Customer Reviews

Based on 15 reviews
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Liz L
Slow-growing, but doing well so far

This one has been slow-growing so far, but it seems to have established itself well in my small Pennsylvania bog. I am hoping it does exciting things by fall!

J
Janice Kessler
Spiranthes

My plant arrived healthy with a great root system. It was well packaged with complete care instructions. At the moment, it is inside in a pot while our Spring temperatures stay stable
so I can keep a close eye on it.
Thank you for supplying this beauty.

p
paul held
Thanks!

It was good to find anyone who propagates and sells this wild thing. So, it is appreciated.

J
John Nixon
Carnivorous Plant Nursery Hits the Curve Ball

I recently had an order that had a problem with some missing items. These things can happen whenever people are involved, and to my mind how it's handled is the important thing. A quick email exchange and replacements were on the way. All of the plants in both the original order and the follow up arrived in excellent shape. Overall an excellent experience!

A
Andrew Norris
Blooming sized, vigorous plants.

These are just breaking dormancy and so I could not enhance the review with a photo to do them justice. These are able to give me blooms this season or next, as they are blooming sized and clearly in pristine condition.

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