AboutOrchids

The Northern California coast is usually warmest in autumn. The summer fog eases, and lets the sun shine through. In Pacifica, the warmer weather has arrived on schedule, and that’s reason enough to celebrate today’s equinox with some gorgeous blooms. They’re only photos from an old orchid show, but they fit the seasonal cycle quite nicely. As the days shorten, these incredible flowers stay luminous. Happy equinox.

Our Pacifica garden is finishing up the summer with radiant orchids. There are lots of great colors, small blossoms and large, and a swelling seedpod on my Prosthechea. It must be have been pollinated by a busy little Anna’s Hummingbird. The fruit has been growing for over two months already, its wilted flower still hanging below, as orange as ever. I’m not sure how much longer it will take to mature, but it’s fascinating to watch.

These orchids have been reliable bloomers for years. Our garden on the foggy Northern California coast seems a fine substitute for a tropical mountain cloudforest. Cymbidiums, Masdevallias, Coelogynes, and Cochliodas represent the cool growers which flourish outdoors here. They endure lots of wind, occasional heat waves, slugs, bugs, and pesky raccoons. Even the miniatures, like those shown in the final row of photos, are tougher than they appear. They seem far too fragile to survive our blustery weather, but I pot them up securely so that they don’t blow away, and they thrive in our garden.

Florida’s ongoing Million Orchid Project has been succeeding. Community groups, schools, and businesses, like the Lehigh Acres company highlighted in the news story below, are tying native orchids to trees. They hope to restore some of the state’s lost natural beauty, missing due to decades of habitat destruction and poaching. Run by Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, the Million Orchid Project has been supplying the lab-grown seedlings. It’s modeled on Singapore’s success in restoring its own native species. To be part of the Million Orchid Project, South Florida locals can purchase seedlings of several varieties. They include easy instructions to tie them to trees, and to help them survive and thrive.

September is a busy month, with orchid events from six continents listed below. Orchid lovers in Australia and New Zealand have dozens of shows to choose from. Please wear masks to indoor events to protect yourself and others from COVID.

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San Francisco’s recent Orchids in the Park event had far too much flower magic capture in a single post, and here are more photos to prove it. With such a great variety of species and hybrids, it’s not just their magnificent colors and patterns. It’s also their shapes, which can be elegant, dramatic, strange, or befuddling. It’s their fragrances, varying from sweet to spicy to floral to nasty. It’s their sizes, ranging from tiny plants with minuscule blooms to five foot (1.5 m) tall plants with blossoms as big as your hand, like the Sobralia in the final photo. It’s never boring with orchids.

The tropical forests on Waigeo Island, which is off the western end of New Guinea, are famous for Wilson’s Bird of Paradise and other extraordinary plants and animals. Recently, a scientific expedition there cataloged 80 rare plants, including the deep sky-blue flowers of Dendrobium azureum. The species was scientifically discovered in 2013, after a dried specimen sent to the Natural History Museum in London nearly a century ago was re-found and finally identified. This stunning Dendrobium is one of only a few true-blue orchids. It will turn a lot of heads, and hopefully encourage the protection of this extraordinary area.

To learn more about Dendrobium azureum, check out Kew.org. It includes the story of British entomologist Lucy Evelyn Cheesman, who collected the original specimen sent to London.

This little Lady Slipper is colorful, cute, and fuzzy! Phragmipedium schlimii is native to the slopes of the Andes in Colombia. It’s smaller than most other Phragmipediums, or Phrags, so when I spotted this one for sale at last winter’s Pacific Orchid Expo, I figured I could find room for it indoors. A few months later, it popped open two adorable flowers. It stayed in bloom for almost a month. I’ve read that it has a light rose scent, but I didn’t detect any from mine.

Phrags grow similarly to Paphs, the more commonly sold Lady Slippers. In the wild, they often live near rivers and streams, or hanging from cliffs with trickling water which quickly drains away. In cultivation, they should be kept moist, but not saturated. They should not be left sitting in water. This species likes warm days and cool nights down to 60°F (16°C) or a little lower. Provide morning sun, high humidity, good air movement, and regular fertilizer.

The final photo above shows a 1.5 inch (3.8 cm) bloom, slightly larger than a US quarter. Like many Phrags, sizes or colors can vary within the species. Some have paler or more intense pink hues. Some have larger flowers than mine. As far as I know, they’re all fuzzy. I don’t know why, but it certainly adds to their charms.

Rwanda, a small, central African country, is home to over 240 native orchid species. The Orchid Project in Rwanda is an initiative of the African Community & Conservation Foundation (ACCF,) and works to save the country’s orchids, and restore them to their native habitats. Massive deforestation in the area has endangered plant and animals. The group has already rescued many orchids, including saving thousands of Cynorkis anacamptoides from destruction. They’re also trying to conserve varied forms of the beautiful Leopard Orchid, Ansellia africana. You can support their efforts by donating to the ACCF. It’s a non-profit organization, so contributions are tax-deductible as allowed by law.

Read more about Rwanda’s orchids at Orchids of Nyungwe, and Preserving the Fragile Beauty of Rwanda’s Indigenous Orchids.

Last weekend’s Orchids in the Park event in San Francisco featured plenty of great plants for sale. There was no show this year, but a few of the vendors put out displays, and the sales tables were their own visual feasts. The extensive variety on offer is evident in these photos.

It was very crowded while we were there, and some vendors had long lines to pick up pre-orders. I’ve been to busy events before, but I don’t recall seeing such bustling sales areas. Maybe the social-media and pandemic-inspired indoor plant craze has boosted business. Considering how hard these orchid vendors work, and what important conservation work many do, it was a refreshing sight. I came away with three new plants for myself. None were yet blooming, but I hope to keep them happy and highlight them in future posts.

Australia has a busy schedule this month, but there are also events in the USA, UK, New Zealand, and Colombia. Please wear a mask to indoor events and get a COVID vaccine to protect yourself and others.

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