We don’t have a lot of shade in the garden yet, as all the big trees are sensibly well away from the house, but there are a couple of small rainforest trees above the house, and I’ve used them to house some of my orchids. The Dendrobium nobile is looking quite happy way up in this fork, and has started to flower.
I’m afraid I don’t know yet what the tree is, but it is quite common in the region, and holds a lot of lichen on its bark, so I figured it would be good for orchids too. As you can see I really just jammed this dendrobium straight from the pot (where it was root bound) into the fork, but I’m hoping that the roots will sort themselves out and start growing where they want to.
Below it is my Dendrobium speciosum, which I have hung, on its board, just above head height on the south side. Unfortunately it is bearing no flowers this year, but that’s only to be expected after another Summer of moving house and temporary positioning. If it’s happy in this spot I’m hoping it will send up a few new shoots later in Spring, for flowers this time next year. Orchids tend to require as much patience as care, as I gather from hearing stories about people just leaving them in the right spot and only rediscovering them when they burst into spectacular bloom.
Having grown up in dry mediterranean climate Perth, where orchids would surely shrivel if left bare on a tree through Summer, or rot from too much water through Winter, I still find it a leap of faith to just tie bare roots to a branch, but here most mornings are misty, and I suppose the orchids get as much of a drink from that daily trickle as from the odd rainy day. All the six I have had on trees this dry winter are looking fine, so I will see if they are happy enough to flower as their seasons arrive.