Orchidarium 1

Apart from the many beautiful flowers for which they are most famous, orchids have other seductive charms compounded of their slow-motion lives, their amazing diversity, and often just plain strangeness. Flowers that look like bees, spiders, flying ducks, monkey faces, ballerinas, corkscrews, kissing slugs, rotting meat, abstract art, a Klein bottle, space aliens, and - my favorite of all - tiny furry toilet bowls (Stelis pilosa, syn. Effusiella amparoana). What more could you ask for?

I have grown a small number of orchids on a windowsill for years but recently began outfitting a Wardian case to grow intermediate temperature orchids that need more humidity. The picture below is the way it looks near the start, with three muffin fans near the top and a few plants sitting on the bottom. Air circulation is enough to make slender spikes and leaves wave gently in the breeze. Humidity is usually well over 80% but in the heat of summer I will have to leave the case open and it may drop to 50% or so at times. Plans include adding a vent fan which will come on when the temperature gets too high and possibly supplemental light when summer ends, as our winters are rather dark here in Seattle.

As parts come together, some plants will be mounted on grape wood burls (Blooms and Branches is a great source) and hung from wire screens. Right now the plants are all small to mini sized, mostly Pleurothallids, including Specklinia, Restrepia, Pleurothallis, and Masdevallia species.

In the future, I will post cultural and natural history information about orchids, including the amazing story of their evolution into epiphytes and their diversity and ingenuity in attracting pollinators.

Orchidarium 5/27/2017

Scaphosepalum breve bud