AboutOrchids

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 in the second row. They’re from my very reliable Sarcochilus. It didn’t have many flower spikes this year, probably because I neglected to repot it last year. It’s definitely next on my repotting list. In the next picture, our Aristea isn’t an orchid, but its tall spikes carry dazzling blue blossoms.. One of our new native plants, a Coastal Bush Lupine, is already attracting bumblebees to its yellow flowers.

The final row of photos includes spectacular cactus flowers, and a happy fuchsia. They’re all giving our garden a colorful start to summer.

Australia and New Zealand have busy schedules this month, but there are events above the equator, too, including San Francisco’s Orchids in the Park, July 30-31. Stay safe with vaccinations and masks at indoor events.

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Did you know that birds can’t smell sweet scents, so orchids instead use bright reds, oranges, yellows, or purples to attract them? The brilliant minds of Smithsonian Gardens have made a great resource about orchid pollination. The charming webpage explains how birds, moths, butterflies, bees, wasps, and flies fertilize flowers. It also includes beautiful photos, info about orchid basics, and an interactive map showing species diversity around the world.

Celebrate today’s summer solstice with more photos from our recent visit to San Francisco Botanical Garden. I already blogged about three of the most amazing plants we saw, but of course, the rest of the gardens are stunning, too. There were California natives, like a gorgeous California Azalea, and giant Coast Redwood Trees. South African Protea and Leucospermum flowers resembled Dr. Seuss creations, as did the pointy, South American Monkey Puzzle Trees. A young leaf, which looks like an alien hand, emerged from an enormous Gunnera.

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we’re starting summer with a heat wave. Even on the coast, where fog and ocean breezes usually moderate the temperature, we were above 86°F (30°C) before noon this morning. Hello summer.

The Rainforest Trust and the Orchid Conservation Alliance (OCA) are working hard to save endangered orchids. Both groups are trying to raise emergency funds to purchase properties next to Ecuador’s Dracula Reserve. New mining activities are destroying nearby rainforests and threatening the entire area, which is a biodiversity hotspot. This Valley of Orchids is home to hundreds of orchid species, and there are frequently more discoveries. Nearby property owners want to sell their land to these conservation groups, rather than the miners, but time is of the essence. Please donate to the Rainforest Trust and the OCA if you can. Donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law. A large donation to the OCA allows the donor to pick a name for a newly-identified orchid.

San Francisco Botanical Garden, also known as Strybing Arboretum, is full of wonders. Whenever we go, Dave and I always expect to enjoy lush growth and plentiful blooms. But on a recent visit, it seems the gardens went above and beyond their usual magic. There weren’t any orchids, but we were astounded by some stunning plants. Three of them are highlighted here. The first row of photos above shows the amazing metallic-blue flowers of the Sapphire Tower, or Chilean Rock Bromeliad, Puya alpestris. The tall, colorful spikes held the flowers right in front of us, at perfect photographing height. I’ve seen Puya blooms before, such as this one from the UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley, but these were much more striking.

In the second row, there are bizarre blooms from a Monkey’s Hand Tree. The species is native to Guatemala and southern Mexico. This specimen grows arched over a pathway in Strybing’s Succulent Garden. I’d never seen the tree in bloom before. The large, red flowers are certainly fascinating and weird.

The third row of photos can’t compare in color to the first two, but it shows quite an oddity: a very rare albino redwood. Few of these mutants are known to exist, but there’s one in Strybing’s Redwood Grove. The white leaves can’t photosynthesize, so they must grow attached to a parent tree with green needles. These were growing as small suckers at the base of a large tree. Unfortunately, I suspect that some visitors were plucking them. It’s possible that these ghostly plants help their parent plant to filter toxic heavy metals. They’re just a few of San Francisco Botanical Garden’s marvels.

Orchid thieves have been busy in the UK, destroying native species in the process. Burnt-tip Orchids and Late Spider Orchids are both rare and endangered in England. Dozens of them have gone missing. Orchid experts believe that the plants may have been “stolen to order” by foolish and selfish orchid collectors, who don’t care about the damage they’re causing. The stolen species will likely die after being dug up and replanted.

Other orchids are already extinct or highly endangered in the UK because of habitat destruction and illegal poaching. True orchid lovers don’t steal plants from the wild and threaten rare species. Never take flowers or plants from the wild, or buy plants which have been removed from the wild. Use caution when photographing plants, and remove location data when posting photos on social media.

As more in-person orchid events return, it’s also nice to see online events continuing. For example, this year’s Orchid Digest Speakers Day allows for both in-person and virtual attendance, so people can attend from anywhere in the world. Stay safe at in-person events by wearing masks and getting vaccinated.

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The recent Peninsula Orchid Society Show had plenty of great flowers. In addition to my earlier post, here are more photos to enjoy. This small event featured displays of extraordinary species and the latest hybrids. The species included the always-impressive, brilliant orange Masdevallia veitchiana, two tables full of purple and white Cattleya intermedia, and sunny yellow Promeneas. Among the hybrids, there were Moth Orchids with an innovative yellow and white pattern, and a large, stunning Phragmipedium kovachii hybrid with twisty petals. The diversity of the vast orchid family was well represented.

Orchids’ scientific names have often been chosen by people of European descent, even when those species are native to tropical Africa, Asia, Australia, or the Americas. However, many scientists are now paying overdue homage to these orchids’ native lands. Increasingly, they’re picking names to honor indigenous peoples, who may have had knowledge of these species for eons before they were scientifically discovered. For example, new names for orchids from the Andes have included Quechua words. Quechua is an indigenous American language spoken by the ancient Incas, and still spoken today by millions of people in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, and Argentina. There are five Quechua-inspired examples below, reflecting an increasing respect given to the language, its culture, and its people.

Masdevallia chuspipatae – named for the town of Chuspipata, Bolivia, chuspipata means “the top of a fly”

Telipogon antisuyuensis – antisuyu means “region of the sunrise”

Telipogon phuyupatamarcensis – named for Phuyupatamarca, an archaeological site in Peru, phuyupatamarca means “town above the clouds”

Telipogon kosñipatensis – qusñipash means “smoky” or “through the smoke”

Quechua glabrescens – The name of the Quechua language has been given to this genus of orchids.