Pink & White Lady Flowers

Taxonomy and Other Species

• All pink and white flowering lady slippers of eastern North America belong to the Cypripedium genus of plants. This genus in turns belongs to the plant kingdom (Plantae), vascular plant subkingdom (Tracheobionta), seed plant superdivision (Spermatophyta), flowering plant division (Magnoliophyta), monocot class (Liliopsida), Liliidae subclass and the orchid order (Orchidales) and family (Orchidaceae). All flowering lady slipper species constitute orchids. Species besides the pink and white lady slipper that bear pink and white flowers include ram's head lady slipper (Cypripedium arietinum), spotted lady slipper (Cypripedium guttatum) and white lady slipper (Cypripedium candidum), which has pink spotting.

Growth Habits

• The showy lady slipper develops very slowly. Plants live as long as 50 to 100 years and begin producing flowers between age 4 and 16. Plants can reach a mature height of 4 feet though more commonly grow 18 to 36 inches tall and 18 inches wide. Flowers bloom in June and early July. Pink and white lady slipper plant comprises a handful of stalks, each of which bears three to five large, curved green leaves. Mature plants bear one to three flowers each year. Pink and white lady slippers often colonize, living together in concentrated groups.

Native Habit

• The native habit of the showy lady slipper extends from the northern tip of Canada's Quebec province to the southern reaches of Arkansas in the United States, and from western Saskatchewan, Canada to the eastern seaboard of North America. The plant grows in coniferous, hardwood and shrub swamps, seeps, sedge meadows, prairies, cool, damp woodlands and, in some cases, on floating mats. Six states list pink and white lady slipper as endangered, four list it as threatened and one each list it as exploitably vulnerable, special concern and historical.

Growing Lady Slippers

• Showy lady slippers grow in USDA zones 4 through 9. Baldassare Mineo, author of "Rock Garden Plants: A Color Encyclopedia," recommends growing the plant in hummus rich soil in a rock garden or raised bed. As the plant's natural habitat indicates, it prefers moist environments such as those provided by swamps. Plants require full sun or part shade exposure, or between four and eight hours of sunlight per day. While some sources provide tips for growing native orchids such as pink and white lady slippers, the plant's status as endangered and threatened in various regions makes specimens hard to come by.

Additional Information

• Showy lady slipper is the state flower of Minnesota, despite being one of the rarest flowers in the state. The flower of the plant appears on the Minnesota state flag and seal, and once graced a postage stamp in the U.S. Despite their status as rare, threatened and endangered in numerous regions, a single pink and white lady slipper produces as many as 500,000 seeds each year. The minute seeds of the flower appear as a fine dust.