[New post] Tournament of Flowers Winner: Yellow Lady’s Slipper
Minnesota Landscape Arboretum posted: " After four intense competitions, the Yellow Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum) is the winner of the Arboretum's Spring Tournament of Flowers. The tournament highlighted yellow blooms found on Arboretum grounds in spring, summer and fall. In"
After four intense competitions, the Yellow Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum) is the winner of the Arboretum's Spring Tournament of Flowers. The tournament highlighted yellow blooms found on Arboretum grounds in spring, summer and fall.
In April, we introduced 16 notable yellow-flowering plants selected by Arboretum Director of Operations Alan Branhagen. We chose to highlight yellow flowers because we're embracing hope and optimism this year by highlighting the color yellow throughout our tulip displays and annual gardens. Voters determined which blooms advanced weekly.
After narrowly beating Magnolia 'Butterflies' by one vote in the third round, Yellow Lady's Slipper surpassed the Peony 'Bartzella' with 39 votes to spare to take the top slot.
Yellow Lady's Slipper in the Dayton Wildflower Garden. Archive photo by Mark MacLennan.
Yellow Lady's Slippers typically bloom in late May to late June at the Arboretum. They are one of about 46 orchids native to Minnesota, and they're related to the Minnesota's state flower, Showy Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium reginae).
Yellow Lady's Slippers come from a tiny (almost dust-like) seed that is just two cells. The seed needs to be visited by a fungi that the seed actually ingests to germinate. The plant forms a lifelong bond with the fungi, which helps its roots absorb water and nutrients from the surrounding soils.
Yellow Lady's Slippers take many years to grow and finally bloom. Its flower is extraordinary with a top sepal, two petals on the sides (similar in color to the sepals), which twist like a corkscrew, and one very unique slipper-like pouch that has an opening on top to let in pollinators. The pouch has two clear windows to guide pollinators where to exit, and thus pick up pollen to pollinate the next slipper they visit.
Archive photo by Mark MacLennan.
Find Yellow Lady's Slippers in moist woodlands across temperate Eastern North America and in the Rocky Mountains. Watch our Garden Highlights webpage (updated weekly on Tuesdays) to find out when Yellow Lady's Slippers are in bloom at the Arboretum.
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