AboutOrchids

Sure, orchids are great, but wouldn’t it be nice to just stick one in the ground like a regular plant? Well, you can do just that with the Chinese Ground Orchid, or Bletilla. If you can grow a tulip or a daffodil, you can grow a Bletilla. Resembling Cattleyas, their charming flowers have ruffly ridges on the flower lip. There are purple, pink, and white varieties. This cultivar from my garden, Bletilla striata ‘Rosea’, has more white and pink than the wild species, which has more purple.

Bletillas are terrestrial orchids which bloom with a succession of flowers over spring. Plant them in the ground or a pot in a bright spot. For best flowering, place them where new leaves will receive some full sun. Resist the urge to water heavily when new growth emerges in spring, or it may rot. Wait until leaves are 4 inches (10 cm) tall, and then start watering regularly. They enjoy a good dose of fertilizer or compost. In their native homes in forests and grasslands of Tibet, China, Korea, and Japan, they grow in rich, sandy soil.

Also nicknamed the Hardy Chinese Orchid and Hardy Ground Orchid, Bletillas have pleated leaves which offer interesting garden texture after blooms are done. Deer and rabbits usually don’t eat them. Leaves brown and drop as plants go dormant. Some gardeners keep the dormant bulbs in the ground over winter. As long as they stay on the dry side, they emerge next spring. They can survive temps down to 20°F (-7°C,) but it’s better to avoid a hard freeze. Instead, store bulbs in cool, humid conditions. Growers in Japan keep types with variegated leaves as bonsai. The Chinese Ground Orchid is one of the easiest orchids, and certainly a great garden addition.

I didn’t learn much in my high school biology class, but many years later, I can still remember one thing: King Phillip Came Out For Green Seeds. That sentence, stuck in my head thanks to the power of mnemonics, is a useful memory trick for the levels of scientific classification of all living things: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. Botanists usually say “division” instead of “phylum,” but that messes up my sentence, so I’m sticking with what I know. In addition, there are many sublevels, but these are the main groupings.

Why is this relevant to orchid names? These classifications show orchid relations to each other and to other plants. Orchid name tags show the bottom levels in the list, the genus and species, i.e. Dendrobium nobile. Species which are in the same genus, i.e. Dendrobium, are closely related to one another. They may crossbreed to produce hybrids, and may have similar care needs. Other closely related orchids can also produce hybrids, but none can crossbreed outside its family.
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Here’s the second half of the list of orchids that I’ve grown outdoors in San Francisco. There’s no greenhouse, so they live constantly exposed to the elements. Sun lovers like the Epidendrums, Sarcochilus, Sobralia, and Zygo live on the back deck, and receive full afternoon sun when the fog retreats. Shade lovers like the Dracula, Pleurothallis, and Scaphosepalum live underneath the deck. Orchids underneath are slightly better protected from wind, but since we live about 4 miles (6.4 km) from the chilly Northern Pacific, there’s often a good breeze.

• Masdevallias love San Francisco’s climate. Most kinds bloom annually; some more than once a year. Masdevallia coccinea sulks on hot days. Masdevallia chaparensis and several hybrids thrive, and receive some full sun.
• Myoxanthus serripetalus flowers once every few years in the autumn.
• Neofinetia falcata actually blooms indoors, where it lives for the summer. Summer temps are too cool for it to bloom outdoors. However, it lives outside for autumn, winter, and spring.
• Odontoglossums do very well in this cool climate. Most flower annually.
• Orchis graminifolia did well and bloomed over a couple summers before dying.
• Panarica (Encyclia) prismatocarpa flowers every other year. This plant seems to prefer warmer temps, but manages to bloom outdoors anyway.
• Pleurothallis palliolata and Pleurothallis restrepioides bloom most years over winter. The latter has set seed pods for the past few years, but I don’t harvest them, and don’t know if they’re viable.
• Porroglossum muscosum has grown for years but never flowered. Maybe it prefers purified water instead of tap water, but I’m not set up for that outdoors.
• Pterostylis curta blooms reliably in late winter or early spring.
• Sarcochilus hartmannii thrives in this climate, and flowers for several months each spring.
• Scaphosepalum verrucosum has remained in continuous bloom for years. Seed capsules form occasionally, but I don’t harvest them, and don’t know if they’re viable.
• Sedirea japonica bloomed well each spring.
• Sobralia macrantha flowers every year in late summer or early autumn.
• Spiranthes cernua grew and bloomed well each year until it fried during a heat wave.
• Stelis species has only flowered twice over the years. It might be more reliable if I used purified water instead of tap water.
• Symphyglossum sanguineum has bloomed only once in 6 years. Possibly some of our nights are too cold for it.
• Zygopetalum BG White ‘Stonehurst’ has dependably flowered twice a year for over a decade.

Lady slippers, aka slipper orchids, amaze and inspire. Many orchid lovers specialize in growing these fascinating beauties. If you received a lady slipper gift for Mother’s Day, it’s most likely a Paph, or Paphiopedilum. Over 100 Paph species have been crossbred into countless hybrids. Their flowers all have a distinctive pouch which makes the blooms look enough like footwear to inspire the slipper nickname. Paphs are native to Southeast Asia and some South Pacific islands.

Paphs are certainly the most common slipper orchids, but there are also other varieties. Paphs, Phrags and Cyps have flowers with a pouch, and fortunately, they also have short nicknames. Phrags, or Phragmipediums, have brilliant colors and wild shapes. Phragmipedium kovachii, or PK, electrified the plant world in 2001 when its huge purple blooms were discovered in the Peruvian jungle. Other Phrags have petals which droop to the ground, reaching 2 ½ feet (76 cm) or more. Phrags are native to tropical jungles in Central and South America.

Cyps, or Cypripediums, include lady slippers native to the USA, Canada, Europe, and parts of Asia. They’re sometimes known as moccasin flowers. All types of lady slippers need regular watering and moist, shady conditions to mimic their homes near the rainforest floor. Most live as terrestrials, and need repotting every year or two. Paphs are easy to grow in a home or office, and are popular choices for novice orchid growers. Many Phrags and Cyps have special soil and watering requirements, and are best for experienced growers.

Orchids make it easy to celebrate Mother’s Day. Whether given as potted plants or cut flowers, orchids elicit delight and wonder. With a few orchid care basics, many types can stay in bloom for weeks or months. In addition, they rarely cause allergy problems.

To help flowers last their longest, check out these tips on where to place an orchid. If Mom wants to keep the plant after it’s done blooming, it’ll help to know what kind of orchid you’ve bought. Then she can better learn that variety’s needs.

As cut flowers, orchids don’t need any special care. Change the water every couple days to keep blossoms fresh.

Browse AboutOrchids for more growing tips, FAQ, and beautiful photos. Sharing your love with orchids has never been easier.

Biologists from William & Mary College in Virginia are looking for Lady Slippers. They’ve found some rare Cypripediums growing wild near campus, and these Lady Slippers are very finicky about where they live. They need precise growing conditions, both for themselves and for a mutualistic fungus which lives in their roots. In addition, natural selection has designed their extraordinary blooms as an intricate maze for their pollinators. “These are the most unlikely plants to live in so many ways,” biology Professor Martha Case says. “One of the reasons I got into botany was that they made such an impression on me.” With their research, the biologists hope to unravel the pollination process and follow the effects of climate change.

A sunny yellow Mexican orchid is here to celebrate today’s Cinco de Mayo fiesta. This mini Oncidium relative takes its name from its home country, and it’s easy to pronounce: say “Mexico” and add “-ah” to the end.

Mexicoas grow on oak trees in mountain forests in the Mexican states of Jalisco, Michoacan, Guerrero, Mexico, and Oaxaca. This species can handle a wide range of temps, and needs a nightly cool down. An elegant mini, it rarely grows above 6 inches (15 cm) high. The tiny Mexicoa plant is a marked contrast to its relatively large flowers, which can be 1.6 inches (4 cm) tall.

Nothing I’ve read says that this variety is fragrant, but I detected a light, lemony, daytime scent on my recent purchase from the Pacific Orchid Expo. Blooms can last over a month. It’s a colorful Mexican celebration.

May brings lots of flowers as orchid events take place around the globe. Many happen in time to find great Mother’s Day gifts in the USA, Australia, and South Africa.

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Recently I spotted Herbal Essences Hello Hydration Shampoo at the drugstore. After buying it, I saw that it contains “Orchis mascula flower extract.” This Orchis is a terrestrial species, probably a distant second to vanilla as the most important commercial orchid. Native to an enormous range of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Northern Asia, its underground tubers have been used in traditional foods, medicines, and even ice cream for millenia. Since it’s not a fragrant orchid, I’m not sure what purpose the flower extract serves for hair care, but the shampoo does leave my hair soft and moisturized like the label says. I certainly recommend you try it, and enjoy the flowers in your hair.

An orchid photo contest at the Cleveland Botanical Garden has picked some real winners. The pictures highlight the sights of the garden’s winter exhibit “Orchid Mania: This Side of Paradise.” The annual contest is co-sponsored by The Cleveland Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com, and this year saw almost 300 entries. Check out the winners’ gallery, or view all of this year’s photos online. Third place winner Carole Jurack observed “Sometimes just getting up close to the flower is all the incentive one needs to see the flower in a unique way within its environment.”