Show your Orchids here

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Oncidium sp. growing on avocado tree just above a staghorn fern. It blooms each year about this time. Just another green epiphyte the other 11 months of the year.
 
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Here are the first flowers from a very small seedling I received at a orchid show some years ago. :cool:
 

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Got this orchid years ago, no ID. Uncertain but it may be a Vanda species. It has a wonderful scent wafting through the garden reminding me of orange blossoms.
 
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Very nice MooseMan - I have just started in earnest on my eventual plan to get orchids mounted anyplace I can - hoping to have hundreds, if not more, everywhere in my little forest. There are so many types, varieties, and colors that I still haven't exhausted all the different ones we see at the local stores, and even Costco. So we buy them, enjoy the flowers indoors for a month or so - then move them outside to take up residence on a tree fern or other available tree trunk.

Do you guys bother to fertilize yours? And if so, how do you do it?
 
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Engulfed by bromeliads, I had assumed that this orchid was a goner. It was in too much shade to begin with. Then boom - looked what popped out. Looks like I need to dig it out and find another tree to mount it on.
 
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Moose said:
Engulfed by bromeliads, I had assumed that this orchid was a goner. It was in too much shade to begin with. Then boom - looked what popped out. Looks like I need to dig it out and find another tree to mount it on.
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Ron, Your orchids are looking great. If I were you I would not move the orchid, but trim the bromeliads back away from the orchid a bit. The orchid looks to love the spot you have it in.
 
Dypsisdean said:
Very nice MooseMan - I have just started in earnest on my eventual plan to get orchids mounted anyplace I can - hoping to have hundreds, if not more, everywhere in my little forest. There are so many types, varieties, and colors that I still haven't exhausted all the different ones we see at the local stores, and even Costco. So we buy them, enjoy the flowers indoors for a month or so - then move them outside to take up residence on a tree fern or other available tree trunk.

Do you guys bother to fertilize yours? And if so, how do you do it?
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Dean, I fertilize my orchids with a liquid orchid fertilizer every now and then. It had been a few years since I had last feed them until this last weekend. Trying something new on them this time.
 
yep.. they do :D one of the most funny experiences was when a colleague came back home with me to pick something up, I was still in my old flat and had all my hibiscus lined up in front of the door. He stopped dead, looked at me and just said (translated..) - SERIOUSLY???
the entrance was looking like that back then:
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That's an awesome photo Nina!

Here's an orchid I forgot to post. We threw it outside, neglected it and it rebloomed so I brought it back inside.
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Two new ones - the first one (Phalaenopsis) I found at a supermarket and the second one was given to me by my mom (you can't say no to a present, can you?). Funny thing was that I saw exactly this kind of orchid at the local garden center just a couple of days earlier, liked it, but resisted - I was really proud of myself. Then I visited my parents and had this waiting for me :D
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Here is a interesting one that I had not taken notice of before. The flowers look to change a bit as they age.
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I am finding out that the Phalenopsis (Moth Orchids, like Scott's above), are much more tolerant of cooler weather than I imagined, or have been lead to believe. Over the last two years I have taken all of the ones that stopped blooming, after serving as "temporary" house plants, and placed them out in the garden on tree fern trunks etc. I gave them a little attention this time to see what would happen. Now I have just noticed, many of them are sending up new spikes and leaves. I thought these were strictly full-on tropical, but seem to be doing much better in my "cooler" location than I ever thought possible.

Just goes to show that you never really know what will grow for you unless you try. I think too many of us have been discouraged based on marginal information. So, push that envelope. What do you have to lose?
 
Dypsisdean said:
I am finding out that the Phalenopsis (Moth Orchids, like Scott's above), are much more tolerant of cooler weather than I imagined, or have been lead to believe. Over the last two years I have taken all of the ones that stopped blooming, after serving as "temporary" house plants, and placed them out in the garden on tree fern trunks etc. I gave them a little attention this time to see what would happen. Now I have just noticed, many of them are sending up new spikes and leaves. I thought these were strictly full-on tropical, but seem to be doing much better in my "cooler" location than I ever thought possible.

Just goes to show that you never really know what will grow for you unless you try. I think too many of us have been discouraged based on marginal information. So, push that envelope. What do you have to lose?
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Dean - tropical is defined by the USDA as having no lows below 40F. Example: I recall visiting the Arenal volcano in Costa Rica with you and Angela with the IPS. Heavy clouds, temps were 43 to 52 F year round, 9,000 ft above sea level, and the trees were dripping with bromeliads and orchids.

My Phals have experienced temps in the low 40's and briefly in the upper 30's many times. Growing on another plant, like in nature, makes a big difference.

Ron :cool:
 
Agreed Moose - there are zones in the tropics determined by elevation and rainfall that are just as defining and confining as the zones in temperate areas. And orchids are a very diverse genera, with some species tolerating snow.

But it was the Phalenopsis in particular that surprised me because I was always told these needed the constant 80º full-on tropical conditions. Another one that is surprising me is the delicate looking Slipper Orchids. Some of the ones I threw put outside on the ground and forgot about are still alive, and one even flowered again. I will have to start taking care of those as well, to see how they do.

IMO - nothing looks as tropical as flowering orchids hanging off trees. :homer:
 
Moose said:
Here is a Vanda growing around the trunk of a Bismarckia.
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Moose,

How did you "attach" that one? Did you place it on or near the ground, and it grew up. Or did you tie it to the tree and just let it hang on? I'm so used to seeing those roots just hang down from baskets I never knew they were such avid attachers and climbers. Are all those roots Vanda roots?
 
Dypsisdean said:
Moose,

How did you "attach" that one? Did you place it on or near the ground, and it grew up. Or did you tie it to the tree and just let it hang on? I'm so used to seeing those roots just hang down from baskets I never knew they were such avid attachers and climbers. Are all those roots Vanda roots?
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Dean - Yes those are the roots, yes they attach and hold vigorously. Yes it was tied down around the trunk. The key is to make it a firm tie down. If the orchid moves around from wind and rain, the roots are reluctant to adhere. They also like a "rough" trunk to root onto. The orchid was tied on at about the 4 foot mark on the trunk. That way the blooms will be around eye level. Its actually of pretty large orchid plant, the Bismarckia has about 30 ft. of trunk, the base is really broad.
 
Early November the trees are still alive with Orchid flowers... but then it was 92 degrees today.
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