"K" wrote in message
...
Robert writes
In message , Des Higgins
writes


From what I can remember, most UK orchids take 3-10 years to flower

Yes - they generally start with a period where they are growing purely
underground

and then
die so once you see the flowers, those particular plants will not come
back.

No, I don't think that's true. The same plant can either flower in
successive years, or it can have a gap, sometimes having a period where it
reverts to its underground state.


ok first google came up with this nice site:
http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~pnielsen/wflowers.htm
which describes the erratic nature of bee orchid appearances and why this is
due to them being monocarpic; I was wrong in saying that applied to all
orchids though; you are right; it looks like marsh orchids and others do
indeed come back a few times.


We found a Common spotted orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) in our lawn last
summer, waited until had finished flowering, dug it up and put it in a pot
for a while before replanting it a newly created area of wildflower plants
in the early spring and it has produced a really splendid flower spike as
can be seen at http://www.pbase.com/rbel1/image/82448413/large

This orchid at least has flowered more than once.


--
Kay