Happy 2022! The new year begins with many cancellations because of the latest COVID19 surge. Please check before attending to make sure that shows and auctions are still happening. I wouldn’t go anywhere without basic health precautions, and I only publicize in-person events here if masks are required.
Many orchid species lovers, including myself, are already familiar with Andy’s Orchids. Andy has been a regular sight for years at shows around the country, and a good number of my own plants were purchased from him. His jungle-like Southern California greenhouses are home to the largest and most diverse orchid species collection in the world. Andy works to save endangered varieties, and donates a portion of every sale to the Orchid Conservation Alliance. Take advantage of the videos below to tour his unparalleled collection. Each video is like a warm and colorful tropical vacation.
The Orchid Ark
Virtual tour with Andy of Andy’s Orchids
Andy’s Orchids New Greenhouse
The winter solstice is a glass-half-full or half-empty issue. It’s easy to lament the shortest day with the least light, but also easy to celebrate the increased light after today.
With the assistance of a few extraordinary orchids, I’m voting for the optimistic, glass-half-full version of things. These brilliant blooms from an old orchid show help to illuminate and commemorate today’s solstice. They are each marvels of nature, just like the cycles of the seasons themselves. Happy holidays. May the new year bring brighter times.
Give orchids for the holidays, and also give to orchids to save them. Please join or donate to the essential conservation groups listed below, because orchids need our help. Worsening climate change, habitat destruction, pollution, over-collection of wild plants, and disappearing pollinators are all major threats. These organizations are trying to save orchids and all sorts of other flora and fauna from extinction. Donations to non-profits are tax deductible as allowed by law. Many more worthy groups circle the globe — check with local conservation organizations and orchid societies to find out how you can be part of the solution.
I doubt that any photo of ancient Coast Redwoods can convey how massive these giants are. When standing before them in person, it’s impossible to comprehend their height. Looking up their straight trunks, and then looking up some more, you finally see the tree canopy against the sky. It’s hard to avoid straining your neck. Coast Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world, towering over 380 feet (116 m.) Even with my handsome husband, who’s almost 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, in a couple of these photos to provide a sense of scale, our pictures can’t do these trees justice.
Coast Redwoods, or Sequoia sempervirens, are native to a narrow band running from the central California coast into southwestern Oregon. They can live over 2000 years, but sadly, there are very few old-growth redwoods left. Only 5% of ancient trees remain. Most are secondary growth trees less than 150 years old, beginning their young lives after heavy logging began. Since young Coast Redwoods grow quickly, they can become tall and impressive after a few decades, but they will take many more centuries to achieve the great heights and wide trunks of older trees. They’re related to California’s Giant Sequoias and China’s Dawn Redwoods, but those are different species.
These photos came from our recent hike through Sam McDonald Park in Loma Mar, California, where there are still a few massive trees over 1000 years old. Happily, this park was spared by recent wildfires, which unfortunately damaged nearby old-growth forests in Big Basin Redwoods State Park.
Coast Redwood forests are havens for wildlife, from mountain lions and coyotes, to black-tailed deer, Steller’s jays, rough-skinned newts, banana slugs, and endangered marbled murrelets. While the Redwood trees tower over all, there are also Tan Oaks, Douglas Firs, and Big Leaf Maples reaching for the sky. We didn’t spot any native orchids in the park, but along the trails we did find a lot of invasive Broad-Leaved Helleborines, full of seedpods. Check out this list of flower species that grow among Coast Redwoods, including several orchids.
To further demonstrate how massive these behemoths are, the final picture in this post shows a very old tree which had crashed to ground and splintered. That probably happened sometime in the last year, since the wood seemed fresh, without any ferns, mushrooms, or lichens growing on it. The “stick” pointing up from the image’s center towards the upper right was about two stories tall. It all must have shaken the earth when it fell.
Coast Redwoods are now grown around the world in parks, large gardens, and private homes. Around the Bay Area, I sometimes see them planted much too close to buildings, where they will eventually cause problems when they become too big. Fortunately, tree lovers can also grow them as bonsai, and keep small versions of these forest giants.
Groups like the non-profit Save the Redwoods League are helping to keep these magnificent trees around for future generations. For more info, check out the great books Coast Redwood: A Natural and Cultural History and The Once and Future Forest: California’s Iconic Redwoods.
December’s slow schedule includes these orchid events with health precautions, like masks, for everyone’s safety. Changing pandemic conditions may cause last-minute schedule changes, so double-check these shows before attending.
The allure of orchids inspires bad behavior from some, and sadly, the problem seems to be growing worse. In Australia, orchid lovers are sharing info online, causing lots of people to search for the flowers in real life. Social media has expanded sharing of location information, which leads to a crush of visitors. Plants are being trampled, and others are being stolen from the wild.
Orchid hunter Mark Wapstra from Tasmania suggests that the best way to collect orchids is with a camera, unless you have a special scientific permit. Be careful where you tread, don’t share locations on social media, and never trespass on private property. As for plant theft, he adds “Most, if not all of them, will not survive. They don’t survive being dug up and put in a pot on your windowsill. You’ll get a day of joy out of it and then hopefully weeks and months of guilt about what you’ve done.”
Learn more about how to enjoy wild orchids responsibly with photography tips.
The famous scientist Charles Darwin was fascinated with orchids. Three years after releasing his groundbreaking work, On the Origin of Species, his next book was all about orchids. It was published in 1862, back when book titles were much longer, and was called On the Various Contrivances by Which British and Foreign Orchids Are Fertilised by Insects, and On the Good Effects of Intercrossing. Nowadays, its name is usually shortened to Fertilisation of Orchids. It’s full of meticulous botanical drawings and detailed evidence for his theories of evolution. Darwin breaks down how orchids, including native British species he had observed since childhood, convince pollinators to carry their pollen to other flowers. The book includes Darwin’s famous prediction that Madagascar was home to a moth with an extremely long tongue, capable of reaching the bottom of the very long nectar spur of Angraecum sesquipedale. That prediction was proven true decades later when Morgan’s Sphinx Moth was identified. Fertilisation of Orchids has had a tremendous influence on many fields of study, and established Darwin as an expert botanist. For those interested in the history of orchids, and their importance to modern science, Darwin’s master work on orchids is essential.
Orchids can inspire obsessions and lifetime devotions. These three Australians are perfect examples, and have great orchid tales to share.
Julian Pitcher braves poisonous snakes, stinging trees, and other jungle hazards to hunt for orchids in tropical Queensland. He studies and photographs rare species, and always promotes conservation. Check out his Wild Orchid Adventures YouTube channel. Two of his videos are below, with lots of beautiful and unusual Australian orchids.
Katharina Nargar is an orchid biologist who researches Australia’s spectacular species. Ninety percent of the continent’s orchids grow nowhere else. Many are terrestrials from drier areas, including beauties like the Queen of Sheba Orchid, and bizarre plants like Rhizanthellas, which live entirely underground. Although she’s an orchid expert, she doesn’t have a green thumb. Rather than growing them herself, she enjoys them in their native environments.
Gerry Walsh is an orchid hobbyist whose nickname is “Rock Lily Man,” after the showy and fragrant Rock Lily, Dendrobium speciosum. The retiree spends a lot of time in his greenhouse, where’s he’s lost count of how many orchids there are. Since he prefers the company of plants to people, it’s not a problem.
The Broad-Leaved Helleborine is indeed a wild, weedy, and intoxicating orchid. It’s an invasive species in North America, with nectar that drugs its insect pollinators. On the coast, just south of San Francisco, the plants near us grow in a tough botanical neighborhood. Their small patch of woods on a steep hillside is full of invasive species, such as ivy, Pampas Grass, and ice plant. Probably the most common native is Poison Oak. Local deer and other herbivores eat much of the greenery. After two years of bad drought, the forest is dry. Fortunately, since these pictures were taken, we’ve had rain, but these orchids grew with very little rainfall. Instead, they must have relied on fog dripping from the tall conifers above them.
When these photos were shot in late summer and early fall, there were over a dozen plants in different stages of growth. Some had maturing seedpods, others were in full bloom, while a few more were just starting to send up young flower buds. The mature plants were about waist high, with blooms less than 3/4 inch (1.9 cm) wide. Without fail, every flower formed a seedpod. While this is partly due to that intoxicating nectar, it’s also a trait of self-pollinating plants. Undoubtedly, reliable masses of tiny, windblown seeds help this orchid to conquer new areas.
This final photo in this post wasn’t taken in Pacifica, but in San Mateo County Memorial Park, about 40 miles (64 km) south of here, and further inland. In early October, growing under enormous Coastal Redwoods, the Broad-Leaved Helleborines had all finished flowering, and sported maturing seedpods. While it was exciting to see orchids growing wild, it was also sad to see these invasives, but no native species. Still, under the shadows of giant trees, they seemed very much at home.
