Guides / Orchids
Orchids
Orchids from epiphytic, terrestrial and cool-growing groups.
B
Bee Orchid
Ophrys apifera
How to grow bee orchid, Ophrys apifera. Its flower mimics a female bee down to the scent, it self-pollinates in Britain where that bee is scarce, and leaving a chalk lawn unmown does more than deliberate planting ever will.
Blue Vanda
Vanda coerulea
Practical guidance for growing blue vanda, Vanda coerulea, including basket culture, bare roots, daily watering, strong light, a cool winter rest, and the true blue flower colour.
Bulbophyllum
Bulbophyllum lobbii
How to grow Bulbophyllum lobbii, with single round pseudobulbs on a creeping rhizome, star-shaped flowers, and a place in the largest genus in the orchid family.
C
Callosum Slipper Orchid
Paphiopedilum callosum
How to grow the callosum slipper orchid as a houseplant. Its mottled leaves, pouch-shaped flowers, and why it should never dry out completely.
Chinese Cymbidium
Cymbidium sinense
How to grow Cymbidium sinense, the Chinese cymbidium, a classic orchid with fragrant winter flowers that needs a cool spell to bloom.
Cluster Disa
Disa ferruginea
How to grow Disa ferruginea, the cluster disa, a terrestrial orchid with rusty-orange flower spikes that needs pure water and cool, airy conditions.
Cockleshell Orchid
Encyclia cochleata
How to grow cockleshell orchid, Encyclia cochleata, including its upside-down flower shape, near-continuous blooming, and status as the national flower of Belize.
Coconut Orchid
Maxillaria tenuifolia
How to grow coconut orchid as a houseplant. The coconut scent its flowers release, its cascading pseudobulb habit, and why it needs a real winter rest.
Common Spotted Orchid
Dactylorhiza fuchsii
How to grow common spotted orchid, Dactylorhiza fuchsii, in a wildflower meadow or border. Its self-seeding habit, and why mowing time matters.
Common Twayblade
Neottia ovata
How to grow Neottia ovata, the common twayblade orchid, a hardy terrestrial orchid with a single pair of broad leaves and a tall green flower spike.
Cooktown Orchid
Dendrobium bigibbum
How to grow Cooktown orchid, Dendrobium bigibbum. Healthy canes with no flowers usually mean too little light or too shallow a dry rest, it flowers on leafless older canes, and it takes almost no cold below 12 deg C.
Crested Coelogyne
Coelogyne cristata
How to grow crested coelogyne as a houseplant. Its cascading white flower spikes, cool winter rest, and why it responds poorly to being repotted too often.
Crimson Cattleya
Cattleya labiata
Practical guidance for growing crimson cattleya, Cattleya labiata, including pseudobulbs, the autumn flowering trigger, bark mix, bright light, and how to avoid bud blast.
Crucifix Orchid
Epidendrum ibaguense
How to grow crucifix orchid as a houseplant or in a warm garden bed. Its cross-shaped lip markings, and why it is the parent behind most reed-stem hybrids sold.
Cymbidium Orchid
Cymbidium ensifolium
How to grow Cymbidium orchid, Cymbidium ensifolium, including its grassy foliage, semi-terrestrial roots, cooler winter rest and centuries of Chinese scholar cultivation.
D
Dancing Lady
Oncidium flexuosum
Practical guidance for growing dancing lady orchid, Oncidium flexuosum, including branching flower sprays, pseudobulb watering, moderate cold tolerance, and mounting versus potting.
Darwin's Orchid
Angraecum sesquipedale
How to grow Darwin's orchid, Angraecum sesquipedale, including its 30 cm nectar spur, waxy white star-shaped flowers, and the moth prediction it made famous.
Disa Tripetaloides
Disa tripetaloides
How to grow Disa tripetaloides, a streamside terrestrial orchid with sprays of white to pink flowers that needs pure running water and cool conditions.
Downy Rattlesnake Plantain
Goodyera pubescens
How to grow Goodyera pubescens, the downy rattlesnake plantain orchid. Its white-netted evergreen leaves, its woodland needs and its hardiness.
E
Easter Orchid
Cattleya mossiae
How to grow Easter orchid, Cattleya mossiae. Why a cooler, drier winter determines whether it flowers each spring, and the disturbance that causes a forming bud to yellow and drop before it opens.
Eurasian Lady's Slipper Orchid
Cypripedium calceolus
How to grow the Eurasian lady's slipper orchid, Cypripedium calceolus, in a shaded border. Its mycorrhizal dependence, and why nursery-raised stock matters.
L
Lady of the Night Orchid
Brassavola nodosa
How to grow lady of the night orchid, Brassavola nodosa, including its succulent cylindrical leaves, star-shaped white flowers, and fragrance released only after dark.
Laelia
Laelia anceps
How to grow Laelia, Laelia anceps, including its tall arching sprays of pink-purple flowers, close kinship with Cattleya, and preference for more light and less water.
Lycaste Aromatica
Lycaste aromatica
How to grow Lycaste aromatica, a cool orchid with cinnamon-scented yellow flowers, deciduous pseudobulbs and a dry winter rest.
M
Masdevallia
Masdevallia coccinea
How to grow Masdevallia, Masdevallia coccinea, including its triangular waxy flowers, cool Andean cloud-forest origins, and the lack of any pseudobulb to store water.
Medusa Orchid
Bulbophyllum medusae
How to grow Bulbophyllum medusae, the Medusa orchid, an epiphytic orchid with mop-like heads of long thread sepals that needs warmth and humidity.
Moth Orchid
Phalaenopsis amabilis
How to grow a moth orchid, Phalaenopsis. Watering an epiphyte, reading the roots, the temperature drop that triggers a new spike, and where to cut the old one.
P
Pansy Orchid
Miltoniopsis roezlii
How to grow Miltoniopsis roezlii, the pansy orchid. Its flat, fragrant pansy-like flowers, its need for cool, even moisture and humidity, and how to grow this cloud-forest orchid.
Paphiopedilum Lady's Slipper
Paphiopedilum insigne
Practical guidance for growing lady's slipper orchid, Paphiopedilum insigne, including the pouched flower, no pseudobulbs, constant light moisture, cool growing conditions, and handling care.
Pink Lady's Slipper
Cypripedium acaule
How to grow pink lady's slipper, Cypripedium acaule. It depends on a soil fungus no garden bed reliably has, a wild-dug plant almost always dies within a season or two, and genuine nursery-propagated stock is rare.
Pink Rock Orchid
Dendrobium kingianum
How to grow pink rock orchid as a houseplant. Its tough, drought-tolerant canes, why it flowers best pot-bound, and how to tell it apart from other Dendrobiums.
Pride of Table Mountain
Disa uniflora
How to grow Disa uniflora as a houseplant. Its need for cool, moving, mineral-free water at the roots, and why ordinary orchid bark does not suit it.
Pyramidal Orchid
Anacamptis pyramidalis
How to grow pyramidal orchid, Anacamptis pyramidalis. Its flowers clamp pollen onto a moth's tongue to guarantee cross-pollination, it colonises disturbed chalk ground faster than most wild orchids, and a bought plant rarely establishes in a border.
S
Schiller's Moth Orchid
Phalaenopsis schilleriana
How to grow Schiller's moth orchid as a houseplant. Its silver-mottled leaves, dense sprays of pink flowers, and why it needs a large, stable pot.
Showy Lady's Slipper
Cypripedium reginae
How to grow Cypripedium reginae, the showy lady's slipper orchid, a hardy terrestrial with white-and-pink pouched flowers that needs cool, wet, limy ground.
Southern Marsh Orchid
Dactylorhiza praetermissa
How to grow Dactylorhiza praetermissa, the southern marsh orchid, a hardy terrestrial orchid with dense purple spikes that loves damp meadow.
Spider Orchid
Brassia verrucosa
Practical guidance for growing spider orchid, Brassia verrucosa, including long trailing petals, the wasp-mimicking flower, pseudobulb watering, bright light, and a warm intermediate climate.
Stanhopea
Stanhopea tigrina
How to grow Stanhopea, Stanhopea tigrina, including its downward-growing flower spike, huge waxy blooms lasting only a few days, and its need for a slatted hanging basket.
Stream Orchid
Epipactis gigantea
How to grow stream orchid, Epipactis gigantea, beside a pond or in a bog garden. Its running rhizome, and why it tolerates wetter soil than most terrestrial orchids.
Sydney Rock Orchid
Dendrobium speciosum
How to grow Dendrobium speciosum, the Sydney rock orchid or rock lily, a hardy Australian orchid with stout canes and long sprays of fragrant cream flowers.
V
Vampire Orchid
Dracula vampira
How to grow Dracula vampira, the vampire orchid, with dark, long-tailed flowers on downward spikes and a need for cold cloud-forest conditions.
Vanilla
Vanilla planifolia
How to grow vanilla, Vanilla planifolia. Warmth, humidity, hand pollination, flowering and curing the pods.
Violet Phalaenopsis
Phalaenopsis violacea
How to grow the violet Phalaenopsis orchid as a houseplant. Its fragrant purple flowers, mottled leaves, and why it needs less water than most moth orchids.
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