AboutOrchids

As a city dweller with limited growing space, I can always appreciate a mini orchid. I was immediately intrigued by this charmer in a 2-inch (5-cm) flowerpot for sale at last winter’s Pacific Orchid Expo. My reward came a few months later with these tiny, light pink blooms. While this species’ flower spike can reach 7 inches (18 cm) or more, mine topped out around 5 inches (13 cm) tall.

Rare in its native range, this terrestrial species is known from just a few places in South Africa and Zimbabwe. In cultivation, it doesn’t want much water. Most days I spray it with the mister, and only give it a thorough watering when the soil looks dry. Its thin leaves can burn in direct sun, so I keep it in bright light and good humidity with minimal morning sun.

A larger Stenoglottis relative shows off bigger flowers with more purple spots in the final photo. Both the larger species and the mini are deciduous. After dropping their leaves, they need to stay cool and dry over winter dormancy. Water once or twice per month to keep underground tubers from drying. New leaves emerge in spring.

The Miami Herald has a Ghost Orchid alert! In Florida, the Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary has a Ghost Orchid blooming within sight of its visitor boardwalk. Earlier in the summer, this plant’s first flower buds became grasshopper snacks, but 5 new buds have survived and opened. Besides the name Ghost Orchid, this species also goes by the name White Frog Orchid, since the curves of the flower lip resemble frog legs. Corkscrew Sanctuary preserves 13,000 acres (5261 hectares) of the Everglades, including North America’s largest remaining stand of old-growth Bald Cypress. Over the summer, the sanctuary is open to visitors from 7 a.m.- 7:30 p.m.

With the ongoing London Olympics and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, it would be easy to think that the UK is too busy to notice wildflowers right now. But the Brits have long been avid gardeners, and they certainly have noticed this year’s bumper crop of native orchids. A mild winter followed by a warm spring and copious rains have helped produce record numbers of Bee Orchids, Common Spotted Orchids, and Southern Marsh Orchids, among others. The Guardian even offers details on how to grow beautiful Bee Orchids in British lawns (hint: don’t use any fertilizers, herbicides, or moss killers.) The Irish Times describes a similar bumper orchid crop nearby in Ireland.

Most of these native terrestrial varieties, like Bee Orchids, have been more common in Mediterranean countries. Climate change has encouraged their northward spread, and now they are even appearing in southern Scotland where they were once rare. While the strange weather has benefited a few plants, many others, including farmers’ crops, have struggled. Despite this year’s orchid abundance, it’s worth remembering that these orchid species need very specialized growing conditions, and will die if they are dug up or transplanted. All are protected by conservation laws, so don’t harvest these crops.

Every month, as shows happen around the planet, the global appeal of orchids is obvious. Houston, Toronto, Rio de Janeiro, London, Brisbane, and Johannesburg are only a few of the locales with events in August.

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Summertime is a great time to relax with refreshing Storzette, “the Orchid of Beer.” Alas, only the ad campaign remains from this floral appeal to women in the 1950’s. “The original beer for women” was a creation of Storz Brewing in Omaha, Nebraska, and featured a colorful Cattleya on the label. “Created for the feminine taste”, in 8 ounce (237 ml) “queen size cans,” the brand and the ads hearken back to a time when orchids were a real extravagance. Cattleya or Cymbidium corsages adorned women on every formal occasion, from weddings to proms. First Lady Mamie Eisenhower frequently wore an orchid corsage (here’s a later picture of her wearing a Renanthera, a Vanda relative.) Storzette never had strong sales, and the brand didn’t last long, but Storz Brewing kept “the Orchid of Beer” slogan on other products for a few years.

Over the decades, breeding advances and mass marketing helped promote orchids from fancy corsages to common houseplants. I don’t know how much orchids inspired beer sales, but nowadays they appear standard in perfume ads. Storz Brewery closed in 1972.

Thanks to Brandon Vogel’s blog and Chronicles from the Analog Age blog for their histories and photos.

Orchids have been staples of office decor since supermarkets and garden centers began selling mass-produced plants in the 1980’s. Tough, modern hybrids can survive, and even thrive, in work environments which often have less than ideal growing conditions. Check the following tips to keep your office orchid blooming:

• As always, it helps to know what kind of orchid you have. Phals (like the first picture below) are the most common type. Other varieties have different light, water, and temperature needs. If you can’t identify your orchid, use these basic care tips.
• Maintaining good humidity is one of the biggest challenges for office orchids. Heaters and air conditioners can dry the air to desert-like levels. Keep orchids out of the direct path of heat or air vents. Group plants together. Place orchids on trays of pebbles and water, keeping the pots above the water level. Spray regularly with purified water or rainwater. Watch for pests which thrive in dry air, like spider mites, mealybug, and scale.
• Low light can hinder office orchids from blooming. Natural light through a window, with supplemental light in winter, will make your plant feel like it’s living in the tropics. Close distance to the light source is important: light levels drop significantly just 1 foot (30 cm) from a window or bulb. Ceiling lights may be fine for human eyes, but are too far away to provide energy for photosynthesis. If you add artificial light, keep leaves 6 – 12 inches (15 – 30 cm) from bulbs, but not so close that leaves burn. Install a timer to turn on the light over weekends and holidays. Take advantage of white walls and other reflective surfaces to increase brightness.
• Assuming you can’t control temperatures in your office, work with what you have. Remember that there are many great orchid choices, including lots of cool growers. Even the tiniest cubicle has a few different microclimates. Since heat rises, a high shelf can suit a warm grower, while a desk provides a home for an intermediate grower, and space on a floor harbors a cool grower.
• Fertilizing weakly, weekly works best. Use ¼ – ½ the dose recommended on the label. Fertilize less often during winter dormancy.
• Find reliable coworkers to babysit over vacations or sick days. Make sure they know to water enough to run out of the holes in the bottom of pot, and never to let the plant sit in water for any extended period. And don’t forget to tell them they can find answers to their orchid questions at AboutOrchids.com.

Orchids have drawn the eye of The New York Times Fashion & Style section. The Times laments that becoming a “grocery staple” has dulled the mystique of once-exotic orchids. While Phals have become common, however, tens of thousands of other varieties continue to inspire. From elusive black orchid flowers to custom hybrids, orchids still spawn new markets. For example, anyone can attach their name to a new Cattleya cultivar for $1500, offering the chance for their very own floral marquee. When it comes to being trendy, orchids have just gotten started.

Check the accompanying photo gallery in The Times to see Cattleya hybrids named in honor of Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth II, Sarah Jessica Parker, Martha Stewart, several first ladies, and other celebrities.

Can the prestige and profit of an orchid discovery make people, even reputable institutions, flout the law? You bet they can. And when it’s the dazzling PK lady slipper, the most important orchid discovery in a century, you can bet it involves lying, cheating, search warrants, subpoenas, and criminal fines. Author Craig Pittman recounts the intricate story in The Scent of Scandal: Greed, Betrayal, and the World’s Most Beautiful Orchid. With complications like inadequate conservation laws and rampant rainforest destruction, its twists and turns are drawing comparisons to the classic Maltese Falcon. In this bloodless drama, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida has the dubious distinction as the only US botanical garden ever to be found guilty of smuggling. Rushing to be the first to name the new species, Selby experts knowingly used a plant brought illegally from Peru. This well researched book dives into the depths of orchid obsession.

“FANTASTIC. If I did not know most of the main players I would have thought the author had a vivid and twisted imagination.”—Paul Martin Brown, author of Wild Orchids of Florida

“A fascinating true story of obsession, greed, and lust for the unobtainable. Reminds me a great deal of The Maltese Falcon. This rare flower is definitely the stuff that dreams are made of.”—Ace Atkins, author of Devil’s Garden and Infamous

Mysta-what? With a name bigger than its tiny white flowers, this mini orchid doesn’t look tough. However, looks can be deceiving. Despite its delicate facade, this species survives attached to thorny Acacia trees in the heat of South Africa’s savannas, where few other orchids can live. It can also handle light winter frosts. This toughness helps to make it one of South Africa’s most common orchids.

Each crystal white Mystacidium flower features a long nectar spur, and emits a sweet jasmine scent from dusk into evening. Yellow pollen masses provide the only spot of color in the middle of each bloom. Flowers can last for weeks over spring or summer.

To pronounce Mystacidium, say “mis-tah-SID-ee-um”. To grow Mystacidiums, give them a warm, muggy summer and a cool, dry winter. During summer, I water mine regularly, but in winter, it’s happy with just a daily misting. They enjoy some morning sun, but need shade for most of the day. Like their Vanda and Angraecum relatives, Mystacidiums prefer to grow mounted, not potted. This also serves to keep their thick roots in view, the easier to enjoy their unusual, linear white spot patterns.

Besides growing on Acacias and other succulent trees, these orchids can be weeds in South African citrus farms. As air plants, they don’t harm the trees, but masses of mini Mystacidiums can coat orange tree branches and trunks. Citrus farmers may be the only ones who don’t enjoy the sweet scent of these tough little orchids.

Orchid lovers are searching for ghosts in Florida’s swamps. Summer is Ghost Orchid season, with spectral flowers betraying the locations of these strange, leafless air plants. Made famous by the bestselling book The Orchid Thief and acclaimed movie Adaptation, Ghost Orchids have a fanatic following. Southwest Florida’s News-Press has an article and two swampy videos showing a little of what people go through to see them in the wild. Since it’s only the beginning of the blooming season, expect more ghostly apparitions in coming months.