October 18, 2007
· Filed under Orchids · Tagged air plants, epiphytes, orchid plants
Are Orchids AIR plants?
Why do some people say that because they are air plants they do not require watering?
There is a school of thought that reckons that since orchids are air plants they do not need water. Let me check out this theory.
The most common cause of death in orchids that are cultivated is over-watering, but this does not mean that orchids should not be given water. An orchid is a plant and plants require water, regular water, feeding, especially through the growth season just like other plants require water and feeding. The growth season is usually during spring and summer. As with all other plants, orchids need slightly less water during the cooler months when they go into repose. Some orchid species go totally dormant in colder weather and then require no further attention. Let alone watering.
Bottom line is that orchids should not be allowed to stand in water as this may cause root decay and death and the eventual demise of the orchid. As for the school of thought that reckons orchids do not require water, I beg to differ.
October 11, 2007
· Filed under Orchids · Tagged collecting orchids, home garden, nomenclature of orchids, Orchid hybrids
Did you know orchid hybrids are identified by a Grex name?
A grex name is usually chosen and registered by the hybridizer. The word grex has its genealogy from Greece meaning flock or group and it refers to all offspring as well as the subsequent offspring of a hybrid cross.
Whether the orchid is produced by seed, or cuttings, or keiki; and regardless of its variations in form and color, all offspring share a common lineage, the same parentage, and thus are members of a common grex.
Cultivars may be given individual names, but the grex name will precede them when classified. E.g. Phalaenopsis HiLo Lip ‘Candor Violette’, where the grex name is HiLo Lip.
October 10, 2007
· Filed under Orchids · Tagged home garden, orchid care, orchid flowers, Orchid home garden, orchid pictures, orchid plants, Orchids
Are orchids mysterious plants/flowers or not??
Orchids gained the mysterious reputation due to orchid collectors who was only too keen to fabricate stories of how they got to have their specific orchids. The story of when and where the orchids came from was always fabricated to throw other collectors off the trail and making it difficult for other collectors to find a particular species in the wild.
Apart from this obvious fabrication as to where and how the collectors got their orchids, some people also regarded orchids as weird as they did not understand the orchid reproductive system. In conventional flowers there are separate male and female reproductive organs, namely the stamens and the pistil. On an orchid flower the reproductive organs are combined in a single specialized reproductive structure named the column.
Well both these issues are no longer mysteries as the origin of different species is well-documented and the way in which the orchid column work is understood. Weird – Maybe, but definitely cool I would say.
