"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.

Fair enough; it may be species/genus specific? Some may come back several
times and others are monocarpic? This would explain why people can
propogate Dactylorrhizas in borders. Some are monocarpic though and this
may include bee orchids. Ok, time for a dreaded google; back in 3 days ..

Des




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

" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Jul 17, 7:09 pm, "Des Higgins" wrote:
"WaltA" wrote in message

...

A few days ago I narrowly avoided mowing this plant down !
I was orig. going to ask for a plantID,
but I think I may have found it now,

Do you think it is a bee orchid ?

You bet; they are brilliant plants!
they are very erratic. They pop up unexpectedly and then you do not see
any
for ages in one spot. Every single time I see one; I get a thrill.


Des, I know nothing about orchids but I am having trouble with Google
and it is lovely to see your post, albeit, yesterday's. Your's is the
latest post than I have downloaded, I am trying to read the group
through other ways but I need someone to sit beside me and talk me
though it.


usenet funnies; posts showing up days late and out of order. MI5 at it
again.

Des


Judith

"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

WaltA writes

This orchid at least has flowered more than once.

Run that again, please,, why do you say that ?

There is a clue in the bit you snipped ;-)

"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 "
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
^
--
Kay

On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 22:14:46 +0100, K wrote:
There is a clue in the bit you snipped ;-)

Doh! Yes there was !!
Too late at night and my brain cell had gone AWOL.
I thought you had cleverly spotted something in the pic.

Now where did I put my sackcloth &ashes ,,,

In message , WaltA
writes

Any comment upon the leaf colours of your D. and A. thingumies ?

Common spotted have mid-green, very distinctly spotted leaves at the
base of the plant. Pyramidal leaves are slightly paler, but narrower,
no spots, much more upright and they noticeably sheath the stem quite a
distance up it. This image (not mine) shows its characteristics quite
well. http://tinyurl.com/2kmajh
--
Robert

On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 23:56:45 +0100, Robert wrote:
Any comment upon the leaf colours of your D. and A. thingumies ?

Common spotted have mid-green, very distinctly spotted leaves at the
base of the plant. Pyramidal leaves are slightly paler, but narrower,
no spots, much more upright and they noticeably sheath the stem quite a
distance up it. This image (not mine) shows its characteristics quite
well. http://tinyurl.com/2kmajh

Excellent, thank you Robert,
It seems that we have the Common spotted not the Pyramidal, then.

I'll now go add "Common spotted" to my KeebleMartin'69