AboutOrchids

Well, not dragons really, but dragonflies. This one landed on a branch and stayed long enough to pose for Dave’s camera. With a little research, we identified it as a Blue-eyed Darner Dragonfly (scientific name Aeshna multicolor,) native to North America west of the Mississippi River. So what does this beautiful blue creature have to do with orchids? Dragonflies are beneficial insects, eating small pests, including mosquitoes. We really try to avoid pesticides in the garden, which kill beneficial insects just as efficiently as the nasty ones. So while we may have a few aphids, beneficials like this dragonfly do a far superior job keeping them under control than any toxic chemical. Plus we can enjoy Mother Nature right in the middle of a busy urban area.

Labellum is the Latin word for “lip,” and the labellum of an orchid flower is a modified petal that is often its most ornate feature. This Paphiopedilum features a prominent labellum shaped like a cup.

These Phalaenopsis flowers have a labellum with a yellow center surrounded by 3 lobes.

Usually, an orchid labellum is at the bottom of the flower, but these Dendrobium cuthbertsonii flowers grow upside-down. The orange petal is the labellum at the top of the flower. This mini Dendrobium needs cool temperatures and constant moisture.

In the early 90’s I received this Phalaenopsis orchid as a gift from a friend, and it’s been a reliable bloomer ever since. It usually starts to bloom in the spring, and continues through the fall. The large flowers can last for months.

Each flower is about 5 inches (12.7 cm) wide. The photo below shows a close-up of the flower lip.

Phals like warm temperatures with bright light. This plant is in an east-facing window, and it does receive some direct morning sun. Its leaves turn a little red on the edges as a result, but it hasn’t sunburned.

Here is a sampling of orchid shows happening in July. If you have the opportunity, the Santa Barbara International Orchid Fair is considered one of the best shows in the world, so don’t miss it!

One of my favorite groups working to conserve orchids is OrchidMania, based right here in San Francisco. Non-profit and all-volunteer, their mission is to support grassroots HIV/AIDS prevention and relief around the world. They accomplish this by using orchids. OrchidMania raises money through regular orchid sales, and donates the proceeds to HIV/AIDS organizations in the USA, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. In the process, they help conserve rare and endangered orchid species in their greenhouses, and promote education about both orchids and HIV/AIDS. Check out OrchidMania’s website to learn more and see how you can support this innovative organization.

To welcome the longest day of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere, that is,) I have some cheery pink Epidendrum flowers. Happy summer! Here in San Francisco, it’s a hot one, 94 F (34 C) in the shade at 1:00 in the afternoon. Where’s that cool SF fog when I need it?

This Epidendrum lives on our back deck, and receives some afternoon sun. It wants warmer temperatures than my cool growing Epidendrums, so it comes indoors in winter. Known for their long lasting flowers, Epidendrums can remain in bloom for months or even years. This one has been in constant bloom since January.

There are a few of days of spring left, so it’s still repotting season. It’s best to repot orchids in the spring, and I have lots of orchids, so I always seem to be trying to catch up with this gardening chore. Doing this in spring, just as most are starting a cycle of growth, allows the plants to recover before temperatures heat up. With newly grown roots, the orchids can make efficient use of the long hours of summer sunlight.

I’ve slowly worked down my long list of repotting candidates, and now there are only a few left. I recently got around to this tiny Stelis. This picture is from a couple years ago before Dave bought the macro lens for his camera. I hope with fresh potting media that this tiny Masdevallia relative will produce some new blooms, and Dave can get some better pictures.

Well, a little sub-tropical heat wave, anyway. We’ve had almost 3 weeks of fog-less days, unusual weather for this time of year in San Francisco. For the past few days, it’s stayed in the 80’s or 90’s F (27-37C.) That’s warm for us, since the fog bank usually starts to air-condition the coast in spring. Typically, the marine effect provides comfortable temperatures and humidity for both humans and orchids. You can pick your temperature by choosing your distance from the cold northern Pacific Ocean to the west. On the coast, it’s pure fog bank, but go inland a few miles, and it warms up. Head further inland 30 miles (48 km,) and it’s scorching hot. We live about 4 miles (6.4 km) from the ocean, so we get the fog’s benefit, but see much more sun than folks right on the coast.

With this mini-heat wave, I’ve spent the past few days doing lots of watering and misting. Besides the heat, it’s been really dry and windy, so it’s been a struggle to maintain high humidity. No matter how often I mist, I’m a poor substitute for a good moist fog bank. I probably should have some automatic watering system put in, but at this point it’s all by hand. The entire garden needed water, but cool growers like Masdevallias and Odontoglossums quickly wilt in the heat, so I had to mist them frequently. Finally today the fog has arrived back on the coast, and it’s cooling down. Time to enjoy my break…

OK, I know I did a non-orchid garden post just a few weeks ago, but the backyard garden has really burst into bloom this month. Dave took some more great pictures, so I couldn’t resist.

On the left is a Gazania flower after a morning watering. On the right is the extraordinary flower from a St John’s Wort plant.

Last year, strawberry plants sprouted in a few flower pots after I had used some compost that still had seeds. They’ve been vigorous growers, and overwintered well enough to start giving us berries in early May. These strawberries should be fully ripe in a couple days. On the right, bright pink trumpet flowers are hummingbird favorites.

Today’s orchid related vocabulary word is lithophyte. Pronounced “LITH-ah-fayht,” it rhymes with “lip-oh-fight.” A lithophythe is a plant that grows attached to rock. Sound like science fiction? Well, just as orchid roots can attach to tree trunks and branches, some can also attach to rocks. Lithophytes may sink their roots into crevices and absorb nutrients from decomposing plant and animal debris, or they may simply attach to the rock surface, and absorb water and nutrients that wash over them. By growing on rocks, lithophytic orchids take advantage of valuable rainforest “real-estate” where most other plants cannot survive.

This photo shows Epidendrum roots growing on the surface of a large rock at Kula Botanical Garden, Kula, Maui, Hawaii. The long white roots attach to the stone surface and anchor the orchid, which is visible at the top of the picture.

In cultivation, many lithophytes are grown in the same manner as epiphytes, potted in bark or moss.