Summer Orchid Blooms
Summer brings plenty of blooms, including these four orchids which live outside in our back garden. In the first row of photos, there’s a mini Sarcochilus hybrid with deep red flowers. Hybrids like these have been popular in Australia for years, and lately I’ve been seeing more of them available in the USA. It’s less vigorous than Sarcochilus hartmannii, which is in its ancestry. I suspect it’s not as fond of our windy, coastal climate as that species.
The second row of photos shows an elegant, fragrant Coelogyne species. Coelogyne mooreana blooms like crazy for me every year. It’s already been flowering for two months, and more fresh buds continue to open. Native to the mountains of Vietnam, it has a light, pleasant scent.
If jaguars had purple spots, they’d be a perfect match for Masdevallia chaparensis in the third row. This species is indigenous to a single valley in Bolivia. This plant was happier when we lived in a warmer area of San Francisco, but it still reliably flowers every year in Pacifica.
The last three pictures show the yellow form of a mini Masdevallia species, Masdevallia polysticta. It’s not the showiest pleurothallid, but its little flowers have charm. Native to the Andes in Ecuador and Peru, it enjoys cool temps and foggy weather like the other orchids in this post.
Explore posts in the same categories: Cool Growers, Fragrant Orchids, Mini Orchids, Photos
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