Here's a thing, it is a frequent comment made by casual visitors to our stand at plant fairs that they like orchids - but they can't grow them. It is no use saying we have done the difficult bit and once established orchids are good and robust, but they are. The photograph is a superb example of this. I took the picture about two weeks ago and you can see two Common Spotted orchids, one in the middle and the other towards the top right hand corner. These are both established plants, both several years old and both determined to ignore the potential disruption wrought by the horses hooves. They were obviously shifted and rearranged when a horse came by in wet and muddy conditions. More or less dug up and moved, these plants are living proof of the robustness of established orchids.
I cannot guarantee that all species are quite so hardy, but quite a few are, especially other Dactylorhiza species and the plants which are rhizomatous. A species of this type is the Twayblade, it grows as a creeping rhizome, and I know of an area in Shropshire which is popular with riders and quite often find battered Twayblades which have been trodden on by a horse, but they keep growing.
Of course, there are limits and repeated trampling will not do them any good. But they are tough and like all plants, will grow if they can.
I cannot guarantee that all species are quite so hardy, but quite a few are, especially other Dactylorhiza species and the plants which are rhizomatous. A species of this type is the Twayblade, it grows as a creeping rhizome, and I know of an area in Shropshire which is popular with riders and quite often find battered Twayblades which have been trodden on by a horse, but they keep growing.
Of course, there are limits and repeated trampling will not do them any good. But they are tough and like all plants, will grow if they can.
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