This Super Ghost has inspired local businesses to offer Ghost Orchid specials. Hotels, restaurants, and even a nearby Seminole Casino give discounts to orchid tourists who show their Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary receipt. Ghost Orchids may be rare enough, but it’s much rarer when one can help orchid lovers to save money.

Wild orchids are also blossoming in the UK, and an article in The Telegraph of London details some fascinating British natives. There’s a list of good locales to explore for wild orchids. No matter what country you’re in, enjoy the orchids, but leave them be; it’s illegal to remove orchids from the wild or cut their flowers.

And finally, it’s back to California for a news story about orchid scholarships in Salinas. Matsui Nursery is the largest commercial orchid nursery in the USA, and many orchids in homes and offices across North America have come from Matsui’s greenhouses. The owner’s Andy Matsui Foundation awards 18 college scholarships every year to deserving Monterey County students. As North Salinas High School Principal August Caresani said, “Mr. Matsui is growing dreams….”

When you’re surviving in the wild, perfection is a luxury. These eaten and beaten orchids aren’t in a beauty pageant. They’re  just trying to bloom and reproduce like any plant, and they don’t worry about appearances. A few dead leaves or dried pseudobulbs won’t kill the deal.

The Law of the Jungle may seem brutal, but orchids have evolved to be tough enough to make it. Take these imperfect specimens as consolation that a beaten-up orchid can still have some life in it. Even if a judge won’t give a ribbon to a munched-up Phal, the orchid doesn’t care. It’s just trying to survive another day in the jungle.

Orchids share the crowded trees with ferns, bromeliads, vines, mosses, lichens, insects, birds, lizards, and a miraculous variety of other living things. Even when out of bloom, it’s possible to spot orchids by looking for webs of white roots attached to trees or hanging in the air. Rain is usually plentiful, but constant high humidity keeps these roots from drying out if rains are scarce.

These exposed roots help demonstrate how orchids differ from other houseplants. You can clearly see why orchid roots need good air flow and water drainage. Regular potting soil is too dense. Loose mixtures of bark or moss simulate jungle conditions by allowing air and water to pass through. That’s how potted orchids allow us to enjoy some of the rainforest canopy without having to strain our necks.

If you did have a better valentine’s weekend than that bee, maybe you received a gift orchid, and now you’re terrified that you’re going to kill it. Relax — it’s very likely that your gift is a tough hybrid, and with some basic orchid care info, it’s no harder to grow than other houseplants.

• All orchids need bright light and high humidity. Low humidity will cause the flowers to wilt quickly.
• It helps to identify your orchid so you can learn its specific light, temperature, and water needs. You don’t need to figure out its exact name, just the family of orchids where it belongs.
• Don’t worry about watering your orchid right away. Depending on what kind of orchid you have, and whether it’s in winter dormancy, it may not need water for several weeks.
• You’ll eventually need to remove wrapping paper, ribbons, or decorative containers if they’re blocking the holes in the bottom of the flower pot. Orchids need good air flow and water drainage around their roots, and they’ll quickly rot if left sitting in water.

Kilauea is an active volcano, but the last major lava action in this crater was 1959. Much of the rainforest on the rim has regrown in the past half century, and we saw numerous Phaius orchids on the forest floor (”Phaius” is pronounced FAY-us, and rhymes with “pay us.”) Like Bamboo Orchids, Phaius are terrestrials that grow in soil and in rock crevices.

Although neither species is native to Hawaii, both have naturalized in rainy parts of the islands. These orchids are thriving despite harsh growing conditions near the 4100 ft. (1250 m) summit. Besides strong tropical winds and rains, the black lava really bakes as it absorbs heat from the tropical sun. More amazing than that, these orchids survive dangerous levels of sulfur dioxide gas that vent nearby, although we took our hike on a day when the winds were in our favor. The final photo shows the eastern section of Kilauea Iki with the forest growing on its walls and rim. At this end the crater is 400 ft. (122 m) deep and over 1 mile (1.6 km) wide.

The 3 inch (7.6 cm) flowers show off beautiful shades of yellow and purple, and the fascinating 3-D lip really gives the Brits some competition. Dave took photos at a variety of angles, so you can better appreciate the strange flower structure.

As proof of its fortitude, in the wild this species can handle freezes down to 25F (-4C.) However, if you have one in your collection, try to avoid letting the plant freeze. It should survive, but it may suffer some damage or not bloom as well. This plant lives outdoors all year here in San Francisco, and I try to keep it on the dry side during its winter dormancy.

If you’re interested in learning more about orchids that are native to the USA and Canada, Wild Orchids Across North America is a great read, and has a chapter devoted to the Small Whorled Pogonia.

This article also provides insight into how poorly understood many of these temperate orchids are. Often, little is known about their precise growing requirements, or why they’re plentiful in one year and absent the next. Unfortunately, some overly-enthusiastic orchid growers can take an article like this as permission to do some local orchid hunting, and they return home with a plant yanked out of the ground, or some unusual cut flowers to sit in a vase. Sadly, this is one of the major dangers to the survival of these orchid species. Without the plant or the flower, the orchid cannot reproduce, and will soon perish. Plants that are removed from the wild for personal collections rarely survive, since even expert growers cannot duplicate the necessary natural conditions. All of these native orchids are also protected by law, and removing or damaging them is illegal. If you’re fortunate enough to spot a wild growing orchid, take away only pictures and memories, and leave nature to care for itself.