Fringed Orchid - Lesser Purple

Ease to Grow: ModerateDormancy: RecommendedNative Range: Peat Bogs of Eastern North America.Zones: 4-9 (3-10) Lesser Purple Fringed Orchid, Platanthera psycodes, is stunning in the summer bog garden. Very similar to the Greater Purple Fringed Orchid, but with slightly smaller flowers. It has a bright purple cylindrical cluster of 10-50+ dainty flowers with showy, fringed lips and long spurs.  It is a late summer bloomer, and flowers last for a month or more. Leaves are long and lanceolate, reducing to small bracts with the flower cluster. Flower spikes are tall and benefit from staking, and protection from the wind. Best flowering occurs with plants in full sun, shade tends to reduce flower size and abundance. It is a bog plant which grows in open, acidic bogs with sphagnum moss, but is adaptable to drier, upland conditions, as long as the soil remains damp during flowering. It does best in wet conditions, and frequently sends out a stolon budding small plants. It is an adaptable and v