Archive for the 'Cool Growers' Category

A Season of Orchids

Saturday, December 21st, 2024

Celebrate today’s solstice with orchids from our garden. All these photos are from this autumn. The season changes with some blooms already fallen, but others still going strong. As the days start to lengthen after the winter solstice, new cycles of growth will begin. I’ve highlighted most of these orchids in past posts (although I’ve […]

A Dancing Lady Orchid on the Rocks

Thursday, November 14th, 2024

A couple years ago, while repotting a Dancing Lady Orchid, part of the plant broke off. With a few leaves, roots, and pseudobulbs, I could have put it the small piece back the pot with the rest of the plant, but I decided to experiment. We have a few large stones in the backyard, shaded […]

Researchers Want to Learn the Secrets of the Western Prairie Fringed Orchid

Saturday, October 26th, 2024

The Western Prairie Fringed Orchid boasts showy white flowers standing on 2-foot (0.6 m) plants, but it’s not easy to find. Growing among tall prairie grasses, it blends in perfectly. Steve Travers, a biologist at North Dakota State University in Fargo, says “I have a hell of a hard time finding it sometimes. And when […]

A Decade Growing Orchids in Pacifica

Saturday, October 12th, 2024

Over ten years ago, Dave and I moved from San Francisco to nearby Pacifica. A decade later, I’ve learned about a lot about growing orchids so close to the ocean. Even though we’re only 10 miles (16 km) from our former home, it’s a very different microclimate. Now at 1/3 mile (0.5 km) from the […]

A Wood Rein Orchid Popped up in Pacifica

Sunday, September 15th, 2024

Until recently, the only wild orchids I’d seen around the SF Bay Area were non-native Weedy Orchids. So it was an exciting moment earlier this month when I spotted two beautiful flower spikes by a Pacifica hiking trail. They had dense clusters of small, unusual blooms. Dave and I could both see that the tiny […]

A Sparkling White Masdevallia Orchid

Monday, May 20th, 2024

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. […]

Spring Equinox Orchids

Tuesday, March 19th, 2024

As spring begins today, these orchids have been flowering in our garden over the winter. Regular readers of this blog won’t be surprised that this post is heavy on the Cymbidiums, which are in the six photos below. The non-Cymbidiums in the six photos above include a Zygo, a Laelia, an Epidendrum, a Giant Hyacinth […]

Island Orchid Adapts to Find New Pollinator

Wednesday, January 10th, 2024

Like all living organisms, orchids adapt to survive. An orchid arrived on a remote island, without the bumblebee species which pollinates it. Goodyera henryi lives in parts of east Asia, including the Japanese mainland. When it reached Kozu Island, it might have died out without reproducing. However, Goodyera similis, a closely related species, also lives […]

More Blooms from a Legendary Masdevallia Orchid

Tuesday, November 28th, 2023

I’m captivated by this legendary Masdevallia veitchiana with its bold colors. In mid-October, it opened a gorgeous flower. A few weeks later, it was followed by a second, and then a third! The oldest blossom has been damaged by the elements, but it’s still standing tall. Together, all three are putting on a great show […]

A Legendary Masdevallia Orchid

Friday, July 7th, 2023

It only takes one look at this orchid to understand why it’s nicknamed the King of the Masdevallias, and is considered a national treasure of Peru. I bought this plant at last winter’s Pacific Orchid Expo, and was thrilled when it recently opened its first bloom, a brilliant orange flower with tiny purple hairs which […]