Orchids are amazing! Growing up in Perth with hot bone-dry Summers and wet Winters, I would see them as plants for enthusiasts only, and we didn’t see the huge variety that are available now. When you’ve got the right climate though, they flourish in the toughest spots. In a bit of a faith leap, I planted out a set of orchids into trees above the house back in Winter; these two as well as Dendrobiums and a Cymbidium. It was partly to get them off the ground, where rats were prone to have a nibble.
Growing orchids in trees is easy with the right climate. I think is has to do with our misty mornings, which dampen everything daily even when the days are dry. Mine all survived our record dry Spring even though they hadn’t had a chance to get their roots attached to the bark and were out of watering range. Now after the wetness and warmth of Summer they are looking great.
I’ve been anticipating this yellow Oncidium (or allied cross, the names are a bit confusing for highly bred orchids) for weeks since I saw the spike starting. Something knocked the top off the spike, but the growth seemed to go into branches to compensate. Now it is making a show on the drive down to the house.
The yellow stands out in the overcast rainy weather, making it perfect for February. It’s sitting in a brown kurrajong tree, which has a fairly light crown and no low foliage. I just dropped the root ball into a fork (at about waist level) and tied it with some string to keep it there. Its roots sit in the air; the only medium is a few bark chips that remained in the roots from the original pot. There’s a staghorn fern above it which is also coming good, so the tree should look great next year.
Just a few metres up the hill from the kurrajong is an old stump in light shade which I planted with a Cymbidium, and then with this Miltonia. Both are doing fine, and the Miltonia is confirming my suspicion that it needs to ramble (it always climbs out of its pot). It is off over the stump and has two spikes just beginning to flower. It’s a flower that I’ve had for many years and felt is somehow unlovely and suited to being background colour. Now here it is finally coming into its own.
Growing orchids in trees in the subtropics means they are pretty much care -free. Some of mine are so high up and beyond hose reach that they couldn’t be watered anyway. Besides these two, Dendrobiums, Cymbidiums, Docrillias and Epidendriums all are doing well, and making great shows down the driveway in season.