{"id":26278,"date":"2016-11-06T20:45:59","date_gmt":"2016-11-07T04:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/?p=26278"},"modified":"2016-12-30T08:01:19","modified_gmt":"2016-12-30T16:01:19","slug":"orchids-on-the-rocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/06\/orchids-on-the-rocks\/","title":{"rendered":"Orchids on the Rocks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Orchids on the rocks? No, it’s not another post about ice cubes<\/a> or climate change<\/a>. Instead, it’s about orchids which actually grow on rocks. Attached by their roots, orchids may wedge into stony crevices or hang off sheer mountain cliffs. Many orchids which are air plants<\/a> can affix to both trees and rocks. The first three photos show a few species which can grow this way: a Dendrobium<\/a>, a Laelia<\/a>, and a Sarcochilus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Dendrobium<\/a>\"Laelia<\/a>\"Sarcochilus<\/a><\/p>\n

Plants which grow on rocks are called lithophytes. Gardeners may also hear the word rupicolous<\/em>, which has the same meaning.\u00a0 Lithophytes in the orchid family include some Lady Slippers<\/a>, Dendrobiums, Sarcochilus, Cattleyas, Bulbophyllums, Oncidiums<\/a>, Angraecums<\/a>, and many more. Their roots cling to rough stone surfaces, and expand into cracks and crevices to help secure themselves. They may live in pockets of soil or rotting leaves which provide them with nutrients. Some of the pictures below show how their white roots<\/a> attach to rocks.<\/p>\n

\"Orchid<\/a>\"Epidendrum<\/a>\"Close<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Epidendrum<\/a>\"Orchid<\/a>\"Orchid<\/a><\/p>\n

Keeping orchids as lithophytes can be tricky. Rock can quickly heat up in direct sun<\/a>, and flat areas may not drain well, so it’s important to pay careful attention to light<\/a>, water<\/a>, and humidity<\/a>. The standard advice is to grow lithophytes like air plants, keeping them in well-drained pots with bark or moss<\/a>, rather than risking them on stone. For the adventurous, Growing Orchids in Your Garden<\/em><\/a> by Robert G.M. Friend has a chapter on lithophytes, including which varieties work best.<\/p>\n

\"Orchid<\/a>\"Orchid<\/a>\"Orchid<\/a><\/p>\n

For more photos of orchid on the rocks, check out this blog post about plants in Cambodia. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Orchids on the rocks? No, it’s not another post about ice cubes or climate change. Instead, it’s about orchids which actually grow on rocks. Attached by their roots, orchids may wedge into stony crevices or hang off sheer mountain cliffs. Many orchids which are air plants can affix to both trees and rocks. The first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,3,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-growing","category-photos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26278"}],"version-history":[{"count":75,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26367,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26278\/revisions\/26367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}