Ladies Tresses – Spiranthes odorata

For the first time – you get to see some photos of flowers from my garden!! I’m not known for my gardening abilities – in fact – I killed a butterfly bush. In the past couple of years, I’ve been adding more and more native plants into my garden. Not only are they well suited for my climate (so hopefully will require less babying) but they also attract lots of birds, butterflies and insects into my garden.

This spring, I planted a Ladies Tresses plant. Ladies Tresses are a native orchid – and are supposedly reasonably easy to grow. My guess is that mine are the Chadds Ford variety – which is one of the easiest to grow in gardens. Throughout much of the summer, it didn’t look very good – then all of a sudden a couple of weeks ago – it perked up and started to bloom!!! So here are photos of my Ladies Tresses!!

© 2011 Patty Hankins

Ladies Tresses (Spiranthes odorata) is frequently the last native orchid to bloom each year. In the Washington DC area, it blooms in September and October. Further south, it can be found blooming as late as December. These lovely orchids are native to the Southeastern United States – their habitat ranges from New Jersey to Texas.

© 2011 Patty Hankins

Known also as Fragrant Ladies Tresses and Marsh Ladies Tresses, Spiranthes odorata grow to about 2 feet tall. Small white hooded fragrant blossoms are found on spiral stalks. The twisting of the stems is a result of uneven cell growth. They prefer to grow in moist boggy soil in partial shade. The ones in my garden are in partial shade and not very good soil.

© 2011 Patty Hankins

There are close to 300 species of Ladies Tresses worldwide – 25 species in North America. Some practical uses of the plants have been recorded. A European variety was used medicinally to treat eye, skin and kidney diseases. In Chile, a local species was used as a diuretic. Native Americans used it for everything from a blood purifier to a treatment for venereal diseases. The roots were sometimes used in charms for hunters or as food.

© 2011 Patty Hankins

I hope you’ve enjoyed the photos of my ladies tresses. They did well enough this year that I may add another few ladies tresses into my garden next year!

If you’d like more information about ladies tresses, you can find some online at

Flora of North America

Kemper Center for Home Gardening

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Native American Ethnobotany

USDA Plant Profiles

Fragrant Ladies’ Tresses – Spiranthes odorata

While exploring the Conservatory at Longwood Gardens on a recent visit, I was amazed to come across some Fragrant Ladies’ Tresses (Spiranthes odorata) growing beneath the ferns. Ladies’ Tresses are a native orchid, which I’ve never seen growing indoors. They are a fall blooming orchid – that can grow from Eastern Canada and south along the East Coast of the US.

This first photo – taken in the Longwood Conservatory – shows the plants with some blossoms flowering, and some not yet open. It gives a nice view of the structure of the plant.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Later the same day, as I was photographing some of the leaves in Pierce’s Woods at Longwood Gardens, I spotted a few Fragrant Ladies’ Tresses growing under some trees and along the stream. As I looked more closely – I discovered there were several groups and even a few large patches of the native orchids growing in the same area. Here are some of my favorite photos of the Fragrant Ladies’ Tresses.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

A few closeup photos showing details of the plants

Two stalks with a full set of blossoms

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

One of the blossoms

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

View from above showing the spiral stalk and flower pattern

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

As I was photographing one last set of Ladies’ Tresses, a large bee flew over and started exploring the plants. One of the Longwood’s educational themes this year has been pollinators – this bee certainly was paying attention and was busy polinating the flowers while searching for nectar.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Finding and photographing the Fragrant Ladies’ Tresses was definitely one of the highlights of my visit to Longwood Gardens. Now that I know what they look like, and where they’re likely to be growing, I’ll keep my eye out for more of these wonderful native orchids.