AboutOrchids

Prepare to be amazed at the upcoming 61st Pacific Orchid Expo. The country’s largest orchid show debuts Thursday evening with a preview gala, and is open to all from Friday through Sunday. Fitting for San Francisco, with historically strong ties to Asia, this year’s theme is “East meets West.” Below I’ve posted a few photos from recent years’ shows to whet your appetite. Tickets are available at the door, or online at the San Francisco Orchid Society’s website.

The Marin Independent Journal details the highlights of the big event. In line with this year’s theme, it includes tips for feng-shui decor with orchids. I’ve excerpted a few of the tips below; the article includes more.

Display a pot of sunny yellow orchids on the kitchen counter to ensure your family’s health and happiness.

One of the most important areas to place an orchid is at your desk or workspace. This is considered a “fortune site” and is believed to bring wealth and prosperity.

Use white orchids anywhere in your home, whether it be a bathroom or office, since white is the most versatile feng-shui color bringing a crisp, clear and fresh energy to the space.

Orchids are considered a four-season flower, which are thought to be especially lucky. For those who can’t grow actual orchids, just displaying pictures of orchids around your home is said to infuse your home with blooming energy, bringing prosperity, good luck, wealth and harmony.

If a beautiful orchid gift is making you worry about caring for it, take heart. Despite their difficult reputations, most orchids are as easy as other common houseplants. With the basic care tips below, some orchids can stay in bloom for months.

• All orchids need high humidity. Dry air wilts flowers, damages leaves, and attracts pests. Raise humidity levels by keeping the pot raised on pebbles above a tray of water, grouping plants together, using a spray mister, or running a cool-mist humidifier.
• Try to identify your orchid. Then you can learn its specific light, temperature, and water needs. You don’t need to figure out its exact name, only its orchid family. Phals, or Moth Orchids, are the most common varieties sold, so start with them. If you can’t identify your orchid, use these basic care tips.
• You’ll eventually need to remove ribbons, wrapping paper, or decorative containers if they block holes in the bottom of the flower pot. Orchid roots need good air flow and water drainage. They’ll quickly rot if left sitting in water.
• When it’s time to water, use room temperature water, and thoroughly soak the potting media. Let the water drain completely out of the pot.

Unable to garden over winter? As Valentine’s gifts, or simply to escape the cold, orchids are great winter solutions. Even if you don’t have much room for indoor plants, there’s always space for one of the many cool growing orchid varieties. Examples of cool growers include the small Oncidium in the first picture, the large pink Cymbidium in the middle, or the tall purple Epidendrum in the final shot.

Cool growers are comfortable with daytime temps of 50°- 70°F (10°- 20°C) and a nightly temperature drop. Despite their cool nature, they still manage to create very tropical displays. Many types can stay in bloom for months, lasting until spring lets you outside again in your garden. Less well known than their warm growing relatives, cool growers can survive in drafty rooms as long as humidity is good. They’re easier to transport in cold weather, lessening the challenge of a wintry trip home from the store. (Always keep them out of freezing temps, which can ruin flowers or kill plants.) These cool growing orchids ensure that you don’t need to miss out on winter blooms.

Kew Gardens celebrates four weeks of Orchids. Running February 9 – March 3, the world’s preeminent botanical garden showcases “a sea of exotic orchids” in the Princess of Wales Conservatory near London. Kew’s extensive orchid collections fill the festival with lush, tropical beauty. Besides offering a great escape from dreary winter weather, the event provides a romantic backdrop for Valentine’s celebrations. Tickets can be purchased in advance online.

Kew is also offering “Orchids for Beginners,” a one day course on February 20 which covers orchid care basics. Space is limited for the class, so register before it fills up.

Can’t decide which orchid to choose for your valentine? With tens of thousands of orchid varieties, it can be a monumental task. Fortunately, AboutOrchids is here to help. Below are three common types which will find their mark like cupid’s arrow. Happy orchid shopping!

• Phals, or Moth Orchids, are the most popular orchids sold. With good humidity and watering, their flowers may last for months. The first photo above shows a yellow and purple Phal hybrid, one of many colors and patterns available.
• Oncidiums, or Dancing Lady Orchids, are another popular group. These have masses of flowers which can last for weeks. Many have hues of yellow. In the middle photo, Oncidium Sharry Baby sports dozens of purple, pink, and white blooms which smell like chocolate.
• Cymbidiums, like the hybrid in the final photo, are often sold as single flowers in corsages and boutonnieres. They come in a wide range of colors and patterns. Healthy plants can hold multiple flower spikes, each with a couple dozen of these prized blossoms. Cymbidium flowers may last for months if plants are kept in a cool, humid environment.

February brings dozens of orchid shows all over the planet, including major shows in Toronto, Tokyo, Okinawa, and here in San Francisco. Many events are perfectly timed for Valentine’s Day. All offer a chance to connect with local orchid societies, growers, and vendors.

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At the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia, noted orchid expert Arthur Chadwick pens an informative column about Phals. Phals, a.k.a. Moth Orchids, are the most popular houseplant sold in the USA today, and they’re almost all hybrids. Chadwick details milestones in the past century of Phal hybridization. By combining and recombining Phal varieties, breeders have continued to create vigorous hybrids in a continually-evolving palette of colors and designs. Species, like those in the first two photos below, have contributed important traits to many hybrid descendants, such as the capability to rebloom from old spikes, and a tendency to grow keikis. Decades of selective breeding have led to hybrids like the Harlequin Phal in the final photo. New creations appear all the time, and continue to keep the genus popular.

One surefire way to cure winter’s cold is to stroll through a tropical rainforest. Warm up at a winter orchid exhibit in the list below or this earlier post.

January 26 – April 21
At the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC, the venerable Smithsonian features “Orchids of Latin America.” The exhibit looks at orchids in Latin American culture, scientific research, and conservation efforts. Start your tour online with these great photos of a few Smithsonian gems.

February 2 – March 31
In St. Louis, one of the country’s largest orchid collections displays its best at the Missouri Botanical Garden. This year’s show promises to transport visitors to the rainforests of Madagascar.

February 9 – April 14
The Atlanta Botanical Garden delights with Orchid Daze: Surreal Beauty. Whimsical exhibits include orchids with mirrors and as artistic compositions.

February 9 – March 16
In Evansville, Indiana, the Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden offers an Orchid Escape. Orchids adorn the indoor Amazonia rainforest exhibit. Admission is included in the price of a regular zoo ticket.

“Alba” is Latin for white or pale. With lighter leaves than its close Jewel Orchid relative, this beautiful variant from Vietnam is known as Ludisia discolor alba, or the Alba Jewel Orchid. Instead of dark green leaves with bright pink stripes, it has light green leaves with white stripes.

Ludisias are easy to grow. These terrestrials like rich, sandy soil. Jewel Orchids need regular water, warm temps, high humidity, and regular fertilizer. Give them bright light, but no direct sun. Ludisias can thrive under artificial lights, and they’re popular terrarium plants. It’s easy to root cuttings of their thick stems in moss, water, or potting soil. Watch for pests like mealybug and scale, which are often symptoms of low humidity. Cut back water and fertilizer during winter dormancy, but keep humidity high.

With such attractive foliage, the Jewel Orchid’s small flowers are often overlooked. The unusual blooms emerge atop tall, fuzzy spikes in winter. They add a whole new dimension to this fascinating orchid.

Henry David Thoreau has inspired generations with his writings at Walden Pond. Now, scientists are using his journals to find clues about climate change. Starting in 1852, the author and naturalist recorded the dates for the first spring blooms of different flower species in Massachusetts. Scientists are looking at his 6 years of of data for flowers like the Pink Lady Slipper, Cypripedium acaule, pictured in the article. Combined with data from naturalist Aldo Leopold, who kept flowering dates from 1935-1945 in Wisconsin, and other botanists, researchers were able to see a pattern. On average, flowers open 2.3 days early for every 1° Fahrenheit (0.6° Celsius) increase in warmth. Flowers in Massachusetts are opening an average of 20 days earlier than in Thoreau’s day. While earlier flowers may seem like good news, nobody yet knows the consequences of these changes. If flowers lose sync with their pollinators, they’ll stop reproducing. Most orchids are pollinated by just a single species, so extinction is a danger. For now, scientists are searching for more answers, and finding the records of past centuries helpful.