Orchids in Our Late Summer Garden
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.
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