AboutOrchids

Last Sunday, the Peninsula Orchid Society Show returned to San Mateo, California, south of San Francisco. After being cancelled for two years because of the pandemic, this year’s original January date was also postponed. The show’s successful return featured plenty of gorgeous orchids, good vendors, and friendly faces. The impressive displays spotlighted Bay Area cool-growing favorites like Masdevallias and Cymbidiums, including traditionally-grown East Asian Cymbidiums. It was very obviously an optimal blooming time for Sarcochilus hybrids, and there were dozens of fascinating colors and patterns to compare. The last row of photos below highlights three of them.

It’s a pleasure to see events like this returning. It’s also great to be reminded that small shows can present excellent displays. Last winter’s enormous Pacific Orchid Expo was on a grander scale, and truly spectacular, but smaller events are definitely worth your time, too. Check back soon for more pictures.

Thanks to AboutOrchids reader Margaret Barnett for these fascinating photos of a wild, native orchid growing in Austin, Texas. This may look like bright yellow asparagus, but it’s an orchid. Corallorhiza orchids are commonly called Coralroots due their thick, coral-shaped rhizomes. This specimen lives beneath an oak tree, hidden underground, until its strange flowers spring from the soil.

Coralroots are leafless, and don’t photosynthesize. Instead, they take nutrients from fungi in the ground, a relationship called myco-heterotrophy. This plant is an unusual yellow color variety. Its springtime bloom may belong to Corallorhiza wisteriana, the Spring Coralroot, or Corallorhiza striata, the Striped Coralroot. There are two other Coralroots native to Texas, but Corallorhiza maculata, the Spotted Coralroot, blooms in summer, and Corallorhiza odontorhiza, the Autumn Coralroot, in autumn. Whichever it is, it’s a marvelous reminder that the weird and wonderful orchid world is full of surprises. Photos courtesy of Margaret Barnett.

From Australia to Brazil to France to the USA, many orchid events are happily returning after a two-year pause. Enjoy these shows and expos safely. Protect yourself and protect others by getting vaccinated and wearing masks.

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As the days lengthen and warm on the Northern California coast, our spring garden has burst into bloom. Starting with the orchids, there are Cymbidiums, Masdevallias, Dendrobiums, and more. Usually our rainy season has wound down by April, but we had light showers for the past couple weeks, which put plant growth into overdrive. We’ll gladly take the rain, but it has not been enough to bring us out of our multi-year drought.

Our non-orchid blooms include a great Camellia near our front door. Its luxurious red flowers are enough to placate my annoyance with how messy the tree is; it drops blossoms, petals, buds, and leaves all the time. My old Dwarf Jasmine is much neater, and has filled its pot with small, sunny flowers. Nasturtiums grow like crazy here. Several years ago, I planted a few varieties. They’ve been crossing with each other to create new color combos and patterns every year. Along with Dave and me, there are plenty of butterflies, bees, and birds that are enjoying our spring garden.

Nossa! Brazil is full of amazing flowers, and Orchid News is a digital magazine which brings the country’s orchids to life. It was published for many years, but then paused. Now, new issues are being put out sporadically. However past issues are online, and provide plenty to read. There are lots of informative articles and great photos. Most of the magazines are available in both English and Portuguese; some are Portuguese only.

It takes me a while to sort through and tag show photos from two cell phones and a camera, but the task is now complete. Pacific Orchid Expo 2022 presented a total orchid overload, which is my idea of paradise. There were orchids you could find in a supermarket, but there was so much more. Check out additional pictures from my previous two posts here and here.

The blossoms were big, small, and tiny. Elegant, weird, and goofy. And just spectacular. There were plenty of brilliant colors and strange color combinations. The next row of photos includes tiny flowers, including a light blue Dendrobium with blooms so miniature and thin that it seems possible to see individual cells in the photo. After that, there are a couple of shots of strange pleurothallids which don’t really look like flowers.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with supermarket orchids either. But it is important to see that they represent just a minuscule fraction of the orchid family’s wonders. San Francisco’s show certainly proved the point.

For the past two years, I’ve only listed events with basic health precautions, because I don’t want to be part of any irresponsible behavior which has undoubtedly worsened this pandemic. Now mask restrictions have loosened in many places, even here in cautious California. (Of course, that caution has served us well. For example, San Francisco has had one of the lowest COVID death rates in the country.) Although the pandemic has slowed in the USA, it’s not over. But I can’t keep assessing safety conditions for these events. It’s been extra work for me to do so, sometimes requiring a lot of time to find the info. Whether shows require precautions or not, I certainly encourage everybody to protect themselves and others. Wearing masks and getting vaccinated can help us all. Enjoy April’s orchid events safely.

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Botanical illustration is both an art and a science. It emphasizes scientific accuracy, but also captures the magic of plants. The Smithsonian video below highlights three important women who were botanical illustrators. They painted precise details of orchid blooms, but often didn’t receive credit or professional respect. Sarah Drake, Blanche Ames, and Regina Olson Hughes lived in the not-too-distant past, when women were discouraged or prevented from becoming scientists. Their illustrations remain valuable scientific works today.

A British botanical illustrator, Nelly Roberts, worked for 56 years as the official orchid artist for the RHS. Next week on April 2^nd at 2:00 pm, there will be a “Guided Walk and Nelly Roberts Tribute,” when a memorial will be placed on her unmarked grave in London. Learn more about Nelly Roberts from the Loughborough Road Histories Project.

It’s great to celebrate the first day of spring with some greenery, and this striking Lady Slipper certainly fits the bill. Its green stripes and squiggles are distinctive and dramatic. This is the Charming Lady Slipper, or Paphiopedilum venustum. I’ve had this plant for many years, but this past winter was the first time it bloomed with six flowers at once. The blossoms have lasted for over two months, and are now starting to fade.

This plant is an “album” variety, meaning that the flowers lack the reddish hues of the typical form, and the green really stands out. The last picture in the post shows a different specimen from an old orchid show with the more common color form. It has a little bit of red on the petals and pouch. They’re attractive plants even when out of bloom, with captivating green patterns, or mottling, on their leaves.

Read more about this Lady Slipper in this past post. Happy equinox.

Attend a free online symposium about orchid preservation. The Orchid Conservation Alliance does great work saving orchids. Leaders from three of its projects in Ecuador and Colombia will present updates and answer questions for this Zoom-posium. Even though there is no cost, prior registration is required. The event will be held on Saturday, March 26th, from 9:00 am – 1:30 pm, Pacific Daylight Time.