True to their nickname, Weedy Orchids are tough enough to survive harsh conditions. This invasive species is also known as the Broad-Leaved Helleborine or Epipactis helleborine. Last year, I did two blog posts, here and here, about Weedy Orchids thriving in a small forested area of our neighborhood. They’ve returned this year, their blooms flanking […]
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 […]
Would you like like to meet some charming, attractive Australians? Sarcochilus orchids are brilliant Aussie gems. They’ve been hybridized Down Under for a while, but until recently, there weren’t many hybrids available in the USA. Increasingly, I see more of them on sale and at orchid shows. This post includes 15 different varieties which were […]
After a sunny spring, the summer fog has arrived, and it’s keeping our plants happy. Start the garden tour with the orchids in the first row of photos: a brilliant yellow and orange Prosthechea, a white and orange Coelogyne, and a hot pink Masdevallia. There’s one more orchid, the white blooms in the first photo […]
The Broad-Leaved Helleborine is indeed a wild, weedy, and intoxicating orchid. It’s an invasive species in North America, with nectar that drugs its insect pollinators. On the coast, just south of San Francisco, the plants near us grow in a tough botanical neighborhood. Their small patch of woods on a steep hillside is full of […]
This Caucaea was a great find at a San Francisco Orchid Society sale last year. It’s a cool-growing miniature with a strong, sweet fragrance. Caucaeas are in the Oncidium family, and they’re named after the Cauca region of the northern Andes. Caucaea is pronounced “kaw-KAY-uh.” This species is Caucaea phalaenopsis, named for its resemblance to […]
Have you ever seen a drunk wasp? I have. Dave and I recently spotted one while were on a trail in a small wooded area near our home in Pacifica. The insect, shown in the first two photos above, was intoxicated from the nectar of a wild orchid, the Broad-Leaved Helleborine. The wasp hung upside […]
Summers on the Northern California coast are typically cool and foggy, and this year has been no exception. That allows us to revel in cool-growing Cymbidium, Epidendrum, and Masdevallia orchids, as well as other plants like fuchsias, poppies, and nasturtiums. Their bright colors stand out against the green background, enticing bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and humans. […]
About five years ago, I bought this little Sarcochilus hybrid at an orchid show, and it’s been a reliable bloomer. It pumps out brilliant red flowers from a four inch (10 cm) pot for a month or two in late spring and early summer. They’re such a rich red that my cell phone camera can’t […]
Thanks so much to my friend Carola, who has generously let me post her photos of Putty Root Orchids near her home in Virginia. She’s taken pictures over the seasons, so they illustrate a year in the life of this extraordinary North American species. These orchids boast handsome leaves with alternating green and silvery-white pinstripes. […]
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