Orchid Habitat Restoration and Preservation
Bluestem Farm photos and text by Scott Weber unlessotherwise noted. Use of photos outside of this website must be by permission.

Cypripedium parviflorumin the nursery at Bluestem Farms
This gallery of nursery photos are pictures of species successfully propagated from seed. All species are native to Wisconsin, the majority from my home county, Sauk, and nearby counties. I’m particularly interested in preserving local genetics and stick to seed of species found in our area, with a few exceptions. Some species, notably the yellow lady slipper (I use Cyp. parviflorum for all yellows, large or small, since there is no convenient point of separation between the two), have been reintroduced to our farm. The nearest wild population is only a few miles as the crow flies, so they may have grown on our farm at one time. The local old-timer said that nurseries harvested a lot of wild flowers from our area in the past. We’ve also introduced some Triphora trianthophora and seed of Platanthera leucophaea from nearby genetic stock. It is too early to tell whether those have been successful. The Triphora appeared last year, but I did not see it this year (2008). It is common for many species of orchids to appear, disappear, then reappear at some later date.

Calopogon tuberosus

Platanthera clavellata

Liparis lillifolia

Calopogon tuberosus