AboutOrchids

San Francisco’s annual Orchids in the Park sale happens this weekend! It will be held on Saturday, July 27th and Sunday, July 28th, in the SF County Fair Building at 9th Avenue and Lincoln Way. There will be lots of vendors, orchid care demonstrations, activities for kids, and loads of amazing flowers. These photos from last year’s event offer just a taste. Buy discounted tickets in advance online, or buy them at the door. Don’t miss it!

British scientists have discovered that some orchids can feed their seedlings. The Common Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) is a widespread terrestrial in Europe and parts of Asia. Mature plants of this species enlist underground networks of fungi to share sugars with nearby seedlings. Senior study author Katie Field, a biologist at the University of Sheffield, stated that “This finding is exciting because why these orchids are often found in clumps, despite their seeds being wind dispersed, has been a puzzle for hundreds of years.”

It’s been known for over a century that wild orchid seeds need a fungus partner to germinate. Many plants, in addition to orchids, use fungal networks to transfer water, nutrients, and even chemical messages. Future studies hope to better understand the process, and to see if other species also nurture their seedlings.

A dozen orchids in my previous post about the US Botanic Garden (USBG) were just the start. The first row of this post includes three more. There’s a great Pabstia species, and then a sunny, dangling Dendrobium. The third picture shows a very unusual orchid. Eulophia petersii is a desert species. Few orchids live in hot, dry deserts, but this orchid does, ranging from Yemen through eastern and southern Africa. Its blooms stood atop a tall flower spike, well above our heads, and were challenging to photograph. With menacing serrated edges on thick, succulent leaves, this Eulophia looked at home in the Desert Gallery alongside pointy cacti and succulents.

The rest of the photos feature a few of the USBG’s non-orchid sights. There are views inside the glasshouse, with cacao pods, a star-shaped coffee flower, and lots of luscious greenery. The glasshouse is divided into 17 different zones, including a Children’s Garden, Mediterranean Gallery, Medicinal Garden, and of course, Orchid House. The largest zone is the Tropics House, which offers great perspectives from above in its second-story canopy walk. There are also spectacular outdoor gardens, but we were focused on the indoor ones for our visit. Even though it’s a small botanic garden, they pack lots of amazing plants into the USBG.

This month offers orchid events on six continents, with Australia being the busiest. They’re great opportunities to enjoy amazing flowers, take photos, meet other orchid lovers, and buy plants for your own collection. Dave and I are looking forward to San Francisco’s Orchids in the Park show at the end of the month.

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Mark Twain didn’t actually say “the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco,” but that quirky quote certainly describes our unusual weather. With chilly fog blowing in from the cold Northern Pacific, today we’re greeting summer in Pacifica with a high temperature of 52°F (11°C.) While other parts of the country are baking in a heat wave, our furnace is running. Contrary to popular belief, we do sometimes get heat and sun in the summer, but autumn is usually the season when our fog recedes and temperatures heat up.

Of course, I’ll still welcome summer, and the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. Maybe these photos from April’s Peninsula Orchid Society Show will inspire Mother Nature to send some summer heat our way. Happy solstice.

Did you know that you can find remarkable orchids only a few steps from the US Capitol? The United States Botanic Garden (USBG) sits on the National Mall, just across from Congress. It’s the oldest botanic garden in the country, and has great outdoor and indoor plant collections, including orchids. Dave and I recently visited, and the amazing displays left us in awe.

The USBG’s Orchid House is packed with an impressive variety of stunning specimens, rare species, and wonderful fragrances. The orchids are all artfully displayed, many mounted as air plants at every level of the garden. It’s a very dense jungle, and very photogenic, too.

There are also orchids in the Tropics glasshouse and the Garden Court. They include a 3-story tall vanilla vine growing attached to the brick wall by the gift shop entrance, shown in the last photo. With all the botanical wonders in every direction, we almost didn’t notice it. These dozen photos are only a quick glance of our visit. I’ll post more from the USBG soon. If you’re in Washington DC, be sure to visit this wondrous garden.

The orchid schedule slows down in June, but there are still events listed for five continents below. Check with your local orchid society for more in your area, as some don’t put out their publicity until the last minute.

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These stunning white Masdevallia flowers are remarkable for their beauty, and also for what they show about orchid variability. Masdevallia coccinea is native to Colombia, where it lives high in the Andes from 8000-11,000 feet (approx. 2500-3500 m.) Known in Spanish as la banderita (little flag,) this species comes in a range of distinct colors. Each color appeals to different pollinators at different elevations, with white and yellow in higher altitudes.

I bought this plant last summer at Orchids in the Park, and it’s putting on an amazing display for its first bloom. It’s meeting the very high standards of the two other color varieties I’ve grown for years, the yellow and hot pink ones shown in the final row of photos. They’re great examples of how much orchids may differ, but still be considered the same species.

No matter its hue, this species needs regular watering, cool temps, good humidity, and strong air movement. I grow my plants outdoors all year on the foggy Northern California coast. In these cool conditions, they’re happy with morning sun. They get light doses of fertilizer, and definitely enjoy an occasional dose of worm castings, also. If I find any more colors for sale, you can be sure that I’m going to add them to my collection.

At the end of April, Dave and I enjoyed attending a little orchid show in nearby San Mateo, south of San Francisco. The Peninsula Orchid Society and the Gold Coast Cymbidium Society joined forces for an event that was full of winning orchids. Elegant, exotic, weird, wonderful, large, and small were packed into wonderfully diverse displays.

In addition to the displays, there were lots of vendors and friendly orchid folk. I’m still sorting through our photos, so check back soon for more. If you’re unsure whether a small show is worth a visit, I’d suggest going to check it out. You might be pleasantly surprised at how many amazing flowers you’ll see.

May brings lots of great events, with many around Mother’s Day. Later in the month, the Redland International Orchid Festival in Homestead, Florida is one of the country’s largest orchid shows, and London’s Chelsea Flower Show features lots of glitz, glamour, and royalty alongside the greenery.

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