AboutOrchids

Many regular readers of this blog already know that, for me, heaven has an address. A short drive up from Hilo on the Big Island, Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden (HTBG) is an earthly paradise. In the natural greenhouse of Onomea Valley, HTBG offers meandering trails through a tropical rainforest. The flowers may look unreal, but […]

Orchid make beautiful, elegant, and fashionable Valentine gifts. Whether for love or friendship, they’re popular holiday flowers. However, picking the best one can be tricky. Orchid buying tips can be helpful for smart shoppers, but many orchid purchases aren’t about logic. Most of us have succumbed to the impulse buy. For me, it usually involves […]

Coelia bella has a graceful beauty, a rich fragrance, and a musical name. Its delightful purple, white, and yellow flowers emerge like little trumpets, and have the sweet scent of marzipan or almond oil. This species is native to Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Honduras. Coelia is easy to pronounce; just ignore the “o” […]

I’ve already blogged about my objections to watering orchids with ice cubes. It doesn’t take a degree in botany to see that tropical plants, especially warm growers like the Phal in the first photo below, don’t like cold temps. But there’s another, less obvious reason why ice isn’t right for orchids — ice cubes don’t […]

I prefer to look at the proverbial glass as half full: it may be the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, but starting tomorrow, the days grow longer. Even in the mild climate of the California coast, the season’s chill has arrived. Orchids excel at inspiring warm thoughts, and these tropical beauties are […]

Orchid names may include initials which represent awards. Many organizations around the globe honor outstanding plants and growers. Initials following an orchid name are marks of excellence conferred by expert judges. Abbreviations show the award and the organization separated by a slash (/). These 3 cultivars have received prizes: Dendrobium victoria-reginae ‘Blues Brothers’ HCC/AOS (HCC/AOS […]

Dendrobiums are one of the largest and most diverse orchid families. They include more than 1200 species and thousands more hybrids, with a vast range of colors, shapes, sizes, and growing conditions. The first 2 pictures below show the most common variety, the somewhat confusingly named Phalaenopsis-type Dendrobiums. No, they’re not Phals — they’re Dendrobiums […]

Orchid care changes with the seasons. Growers need to adjust for winter’s approach in the Northern Hemisphere. Orchids with pseudobulbs are entering dormancy. If they sport swollen stems like those in the first photo below, they may only need water once or twice per month over winter. Too much water can cause rot, or mess […]

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 […]

As Halloween quickly approaches, it’s the perfect time for a few creepy carnivorous plants. They’re helpful orchid allies, providing superb natural pest control, and they make great green alternatives to toxic pesticides. Bug-eaters come in many forms. Most famous are Venus Fly Traps, but there are also hundreds of varieties of pitcher plants, and many […]