Cypripedium Gabriela - Lady Slipper Orchid

The Cypripedium 'Gabriela' is a hybrid Lady's Slipper Orchid resulting from the two largest botanical species of garden orchid. It is fully hardy and withstands hot summers well, but successful cultivation requires a good understanding of its cultural requirements. Its large flowers are composed of long brown to purple petals washed with chartreuse, crowning a swollen slipper-shaped lip, white tinged with yellow. Provide it with shaded or semi-shaded exposure and sandy and humus-bearing soil that is slightly acidic and remains somewhat moist but not soggy.

The Cypripedium 'Gabriela' belongs to the orchid family. It is a hybrid between Cypripedium kentuckiense and Cypripedium fasciolatum. Its first parent grows in the deep gorges with acidic soil of the mountainous areas in the central part of the United States, from Tennessee through Kentucky, Missouri, Texas, and Ohio. The Cypripedium kentuckiense is the American garden orchid with the largest flowers. Its second parent, very rare in the wild, is native to the Himalayas and the mountainous province of Sichuan in China.

The Cypripedium 'Gabriela' produces large flowers. They can easily reach over 12 cm in diameter when not fully open. This terrestrial orchid develops from a fleshy stump from which light green, oval, elliptical leaves emerge in early spring, 12 cm long, sessile and embracing, with strongly impressed parallel veins. The stump produces suckers, allowing it to form beautiful colonies eventually. In spring, usually in May and for about two weeks, the plants produce beautiful hairy flower stems, rising to 60 or 70 cm above the ground. Each stem bears a solitary flower. The flower comprises slender, twisted sepals and petals, purplish-brown, speckled with chartreuse green, and a sizeable swollen lip in ivory white to pale yellow. Each plant is usually uniflorous. The above-ground vegetation is absent in winter.

Cypripedium 'Gabriela' is a hardy frost-resistant perennial that thrives in forest edges. It prefers light soil that retains moisture without waterlogging. Plant it in a location with not too intense shade, in a cool rockery, an ideal habitat for it to thrive and beautify your garden with its unique presence. Accompany it with a simple fern like Polypodium vulgare and the flowering of Trilliums and Lamium orvala. It also thrives in containers, unheated greenhouses, and non-limestone substrates.

When you receive your orchids, handle them with care: these plants produce few roots and are delicate!