Gardens at Post Hill Store

Orchids for Sale

Fall List 2024

Ordering

Note on payment. Because we are no longer a business, we cannot continue to use our Paypal business account. That means that we have to use a personal email account to receive money. I have set up orchidron1955@gmail.com to do that.

It seemed as though the method would be clunky, since you will have to send me an email message noting what plants you would like and I will send a reply with an invoice, including amount you owe. However, we did this last year and it worked surprisingly well. You will also receive a message from Paypal that "You'vegot a money request" from the orchidron1955 account. At the bottom of the message there will be a "Pay Now" button. When you press the button you can log in to your Paypal account, or log in as a Guest to pay using a credit or debit card.

If you feel safer sending a check that is fine. Please send me a reply from the invoice message stating that you will send a check. I will hold your plants for 10 days to allow time for the check to arrive.

Plants ordered from our Fall list will be sent in mid-late October after all plants are dormant

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GPH is a hobbyist grower of Cypripedium and some other terrestrial orchids. We make crosses and raise plants to blooming size to assess the qualities of flowers from the new crosses. We sell excess plants once we have assessed the flowers to make room for new seedlings from new crosses. Thus, our stock of any given species or hybrid is limited in number. We will endeavor to note on our list when our stock of a certain plant is sold out, but during a day, we may receive more orders than the number of plants we have available. We will let you know immediately when we realize that has happened.

The plants we sell as 'blooming size' have bloomed at least one year. This does not necessarily mean that the plant you receive will bloom next Spring, but more often than not it will. Some species and hybrids may abort their bud the first Spring after being transplanted. This is a response to being moved. We have found that Cyp tibeticum and Cyp macranthos are particularly prone to first year bud abortion.

It is also important to keep in mind that the plants we sell will have a variable number of growth buds. The price at which we sell is for one growth bud but often there is more than one bud, the 'extras' are bonuses to the buyer. Sometimes we sell plants with specific numbers of buds but we dont do this often as the plants are grown in beds and it is difficult to determine exactly how many buds a given plant has without disturbing it a great deal.

Many of the hybrids and some of the species we sell are 'new.' For a species this means that it has not been in cultivation extensively so we do not have a good feel for how long a plant may survive in your planting bed. We know it has grown in cultivation for at least 5 years since all of our plants are seed-grown but we dont know with certainty what the breadth of conditions in which they survive might be. We let you know this in our descriptions. These plants are for those who have experience with Cypripediums and are prepared to lose them. We sometimes sell Cyp lichiangense or Cyp arietinum. These often last for a few years but all too soon are lost. All of us who have kept Cyp's have killed very many! While some species and hybrids last for very long periods of time - Cyp reginae, Cyp pubescens, Cyp Gisela and so forth are very difficult to kill and we have specimens that are more than 15 years old, many new hybrids do well, but over a few years tend to decline and are eventually lost. This is the case for many hybrid plants including orchids.

Since most of the hybrids we sell have only been in existance for 5-10 years, it is natural to expect that some will not be long-lived. We note in the descriptions some that have done very well for us for many years. If you are looking for good garden plants for your perennial beds in shady sites, keep to these. We have reports from a number of customers, often accompanied by images, of exceptional success with a plant of a hybrid that has done extremely well for them whereas most plants of that hybrid are not so long-lived. Since very few of our plants are meristem clones this is due to normal variability in a given hybrid, or even the parents used to produce the seed. While we once did meristem clones, we have not done so for several years. Michael Weinert does some meristem work using exceptional plants from a given hybrid, and we generally order some for our garden. Since Michael is in Germany, there are minimum orders so we have to import more than we can use ourselves and offer the others in our Fall lists. Those that are clones are clearly marked.

Finally, we ship our plants bare root in clear plastic bags. Having a clear plastic bag allows you to become comfortable or not with the quality of the plant when it arrives. If you do not like the look of a rhizome when you receive it we are happy to take it back as we want you to be happy with the plants you receive. This also means that if you order from us, it is with the understanding that we cannot be responsible for issues that become apparent after you plant your rhizome. The rhizomes are in good condition when we dig them or we dont send them on to you. On very rare occasions we find there is a quality or suitability issue. For example, some years ago we received Cyp Sebastian, very nice plants, from an outside source. We kept some and sold some. The next Spring, we found that ours had degraded in our beds. This was not due to the quality of the plants but rather their inability to tolerate conditions outside of those in their native habitat at above 5000 feet in the Rocky Mountains (the habitat of one of their parents, Cyp montanum). Since we had sold the plants as hardy in our conditions and they were not, in the Spring we contacted customers who purchased them and told them of our findings, and if the plants had not survived for a customer we refunded their purchase price. Outside of instances in which the plants we sold you were from beds that subsequently failed as in this example, we do not replace plants.

Plants

In addition to listed plants, we also sometimes have available limited numbers of unlisted plants - please contact us if you are looking for something we do not have. If we do not have it, we will help you find someone who does.

Due to the difficulty and costs of obtaining phytosanitary and CITES certificates, we can only ship within the United States.

Cypripedium reginae forma album clump in its 8th year with 14 flowers.

Cypripedium Ladyslipper Orchids

Cypripedium ladyslipper orchids are among the most showy of the temperate terrestrial orchids. Please read our cultivation instructions to make sure that you live in an appropriate part of the country to grow these magnificient garden plants. Plants should be situated in a partially shaded area and preferably planted in a soiless medium. Please read our cultivation instructions before you order.

Click on each image to see additional information about the plant. Click "back" on your browser to return

Cypripedium alaskanum Frosch®
Blooming size plant
$60.00 Shipping Included

Once you have chosen the plants you would like to order, please send me a list to orchidron1955@gmail.com and I will send payment instructions. Plants will be shipped in mid-October.

Cyp xalaskanum is a natural hybrid of our North American Cyp guttatum and Cyp yatabeanum. Both of these species hail from Alaska and extend down the Aleuthian chain to northern parts of Japan. Plants that originate in Alaska require cold temperatures and are recommended for Zone 4. Plants that originate in Japan are hardy to Zone 6 and perhaps Zone 7. These plants originated with Micheal Weinert of Frosch's Exclusive Perennials in Germany. Michael has found these to do well in his gardens. We planted these in Fall 2023. Most came up this season.