AboutOrchids

Mysta-what? With a name bigger than its tiny white flowers, this mini orchid doesn’t look tough. However, looks can be deceiving. Despite its delicate facade, this species survives attached to thorny Acacia trees in the heat of South Africa’s savannas, where few other orchids can live. It can also handle light winter frosts. This toughness […]

A sunny yellow Mexican orchid is here to celebrate today’s Cinco de Mayo fiesta. This mini Oncidium relative takes its name from its home country, and it’s easy to pronounce: say “Mexico” and add “-ah” to the end. Mexicoas grow on oak trees in mountain forests in the Mexican states of Jalisco, Michoacan, Guerrero, Mexico, […]

When I first bought this unusual Japanese species at Pacific Orchid Expo 2009, I didn’t know if I could grow it. My purchase consisted of 3 tiny Orchis tubers, each smaller than a pea. Along with planting instructions for this mini terrestrial, the vendor included its Japanese name, uchouran, meaning “butterfly wing orchid.” I planted […]

Here on the California coast, the Cymbidiums spoil us. I’ve seen luxuriant blooms on neglected orchids stuffed into sidewalk planters. Gardeners inherit abandoned plants from earlier tenants, sometimes without even realizing that the strap-like leaves belong to orchids. It turns out that our mild climate mimics the slopes of the Himalayas where these orchids grow […]

Miniature orchids have all the beauty of their larger cousins, but only take a fraction of the space. These tiny treasures enable orchid lovers to assemble a tropical collection in a single room, on a windowsill, or under lights. Mini forms exist in the Phal, Catt, Cymbidium, Dendrobium, Masdevallia, and Oncidium families, to name a […]

To celebrate today’s solstice, I have more photos from last weekend’s Orchids in the Park, along with a few non-orchid shots from Golden Gate Park. Starting outdoors, end of summer delights included a fruit-laden pink passionflower and a working 1914 carousel at the Children’s Playground. The third photo shows part of the living roof at […]

No, it’s not winter — it’s just another cool, foggy San Francisco summer. Fortunately, it’s the perfect climate for this Bolivian beauty. Dozens of delightful pink and purple Masdevallia flowers opened more than a month ago in our back garden, and they’re still going strong. This species is native to elevations of 8000 – 9000 […]

If you think that orchids are all delicate and fragile, here’s a hardy Australian mini that will surprise you. This Sarcochilus is one tough species, related to Phals and Vandas. In the wild, it grows as a lithophyte, or rock plant. Its roots attach to cliff faces in eastern Australia, and they hold on despite […]

You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, but rotting meat works even better. A strange little South African orchid has figured this out, and attracts pollinating flies with a deathly odor. Satyrium pumilum grows as a terrestrial in wet, sandy soil. During the day, its flowers emit a weak scent of decaying […]

Orchid pros sometimes say that you’re not an orchid expert until you’ve killed your weight in orchids. Since I started growing them 20 years ago, I believe I’ve passed that benchmark, and here’s another for the scales. This African orchid, a Polystachya, looked fine in these 2006 photos. I bought this unusual specimen years ago […]