Bletilla sp
John Lonsdale (Wed, 15 Jun 2005 07:07:55 PDT)

There are a lot of misconceptions and much misinformation
flying around regarding Bletilla species and hybrids.
They are indeed much hardier than generally supposed and
also thrive in full sun here in SE Pennsylvania. They are
often touted as obligate shade plants. In our zone 6b
garden (minimum recorded by us was -2F) we have about a
dozen clumps of various striata leaf and flower variants
and the older hybrids (Yokohama, Coritani etc.) which
number hundreds of shoots per clump, and thousands of
flowers. Clumps are a couple of feet across and very
dense. The colors are very intense. They set seed
regularly but I haven't seen any seedlings yet. I also
have in the garden smaller clumps of the newer hybrids of
the "Penway" series and they are also reliable. Of the
other species, B. ochracea seems fine, B. szetchuanica
(sp?) faded away but that maybe because it is much smaller
and less vigorous anyway. The noses of these plants are
not far below ground and I have failed to mulch them at
all in the past couple of years, which have seen cold
winters.

In late May and early June the Bletillas make a
spectacular display, early in their season the large
clumps of Iris tectorum they are intermingled with
complement them very nicely.

I'll be uploading some of this year's pictures to my web
site when I get the chance.

Best,

J.