Chinese Orchid
Also called the hardy chinese ground orchid and botanically known as bletilla striata the plant is native to china and japan.
Chinese orchid. Hardy garden orchid b. With sufficient mulching these can be cold hardy orchids down to usda zones 5 6. The petite blossoms reflect the plant name and look like orchids growing along thin stems that stand 18 inches tall. According to the warehouse database the orchid was used in 15th century by the chinese emperor as a warning to the europeans who tried to force china to trade with them.
Learn more in the cambridge english chinese traditional dictionary. A deer resistant woodland beauty chinese ground orchid has small pinkish purple flowers for weeks in spring. British gardeners began growing hardy orchids in the 1990s and hardy garden orchids now happily exist in many united states gardens. The 9 species of bletilla of which the most popular is bletilla striata the chinese ground orchid are terrestrial orchids that are hardy in places where the ground doesnt freeze.
It released a disease called the english sweating sickness which was considered incurable and killed several thousand people by october 1485. Bletilla striata is the most common form found in the nursery trade and is often labeled simply as hardy orchid or chinese ground orchid and is quite inexpensive. The very flat knob like tuberous root system is typically sympodial expansive and each shoot is of annual duration only.