Terrestrial orchids

[Tracy]

It is the season for Sobralia orchids to bloom.  What other terrestrial orchids are you growing in your garden?  Sobralia sanderae and Sobralia macranthra (two varieties).

[tropicbreeze]

I have 4 native terrestrial orchids that grow naturally on my place. Geodorum neocaledonicum invades my garden on its own. Nervilia holochila I've moved into my garden and is quite happy if it doesn't get watered during the dry season. Habenaria ochroleuca and Empusa habenarina like seasonally very wet ground so not practical in the garden and I just leave them where they are. Also have Spathoglottis orchids of a few varieties. I have trouble protecting them from being dug up by Bush Chooks (Jungle Fowl or Orange-footed Scrub Fowl).

[Tracy]

8 hours ago, tropicbreeze said:

I have 4 native terrestrial orchids that grow naturally on my place.

In habitat photos would be great!

[XYZ]

Hi, Tracy.

I grow a lot of genera of terrestrial orchids, including many species and hybrids of Sobralia & its newly-segregated sib genus Brasolia, some quite rare and all beautiful. I have been putting together a bunch of photos of some of a nicer ones for a post later this month, so won't bog this down with tons of images of flowering sobralias but just mention a couple of "different" ones.

Besides experimenting with disas outside recently, last October I planted two clumps of a very good tetraploid clone of the southern Mexican and Guatemalan terrestrial and lithophytic orchid, Arpophyllum alpinum in one of the rockeries here in California. I am very pleased with its performance throughout the winter and into some very hot days earlier this summer. There are quite a few high elevation terrestrial orchids from the New World that can handle the occasional nasty bouts of winter weather in milder parts of the US southwest. This one saw plenty of nights below freezing with no visible damage. Ironically, the old growth coastal oak forest behind it generated a bunch of broadleaf helleborine (Epipactis helleborine), a naturalized and somewhat invasive Eurasian orchid, amidst the maidenhair this year (in flower today).

Cheers,

J

 

[tropicbreeze]

15 hours ago, Tracy said:

In habitat photos would be great!

I'll dig out some photos and post them. Dry season now so none are out at present.

[Tracy]

On 7/7/2017, 1:12:25, stone jaguar said:

I have been putting together a bunch of photos of some of a nicer ones for a post later this month,

I'm already looking forward to your post already!  You mentioned that some terrestrial orchids can endure even cold weather sites.  Last summer my wife and I did some hiking in the Spanish Pyrenees, and saw some Old World orchids even as snow was coming down on us from just slightly higher elevations and in areas that had been covered in snow only a couple of months prior to our arrival.  Bottom line, there is a lot of diversity in their habitats. 

I enjoyed getting by Andy's Orchids here in Leucadia over the weekend for his summer open house.  He has a tremendous collection of orchids for sale.  Orchids, whether terrestrial or epiphytic seem to be the finishing touch to any "tropical" landscaping.