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Tag Archives: Crucifix Orchids

Winter Blooms!

19 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by gardensandpolkadots in Gardens

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Blueberries, Crucifix Orchids, Home Grown, My Garden, Native Orchids, Orchids, Paper Daisies, Pot Plants, Viola, Wattle, Winter Flowering

It was such a gorgeous day in Sydney today. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, yes even the Black Cockatoos were out and to my pleasant surprise the blooms are, well… blooming too.

I wasn’t expecting quite as much action when I ventured out to the garden today. There had been hints that one of the native Orchids was going to produce a flower spike – never before seen in our garden. There were also hints that the Coastal Wattle (Acicia sophorae) was beginning to pop out some little yellow delights. Maybe, just maybe the snow pea was showing signs of uncurling a couple of flowers too but I didn’t expect the blooms to be so bloomin’ advanced!

And what about the Paper Daisy? It just keeps going and going.

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After the recent down pours (yes plural, sometimes it bucketed down with no sign of letting up) I had neglected to venture out to the garden to water (and show my encouragment to) the pot plants. Given the splendid winter weather gracing our suburb I figured today would be the perfect day to get out there and see what was happening.

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As you know Dave and I live in an apartment and when we moved in we managed to secure ourselves the northside path by the building. It wasn’t being used so we began making it into a garden oasis, filling it with our pots of ornamentals, fruit and vegetables.

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We are fortunate that the neighbouring house is at a lower level than our property, so this means that our little potted gardens receive sun for most of the year. At the moment some of the pots themselves don’t receive much sun but the majority of the foliage does. Some plants would perform better with more sun but, every little bit counts I say.

So, out I went and greeting me at the back door was a blooming pot of happy, smiling Viola. These little gems bring a smile to our faces on even the cloudiest of days (there’s nothing wrong with a coudy day mind you).

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The next discovery was the golden yellow powder puffs on the Wattle. A few weeks ago I had noticed the beginnings of the flowers, they were tiny little lime green balls popping out from the flower spikes on the branches. I didn’t think that they would reveal the fluffy golden stamens quite so soon. But they have and in no time we will be harvesting the seeds to roast, grind and add to some delicious cooking.

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Another lovely surprise was the native Orchids (Dendrobium speciosum). From our kitchen window we can see one of the Orchid pots and for a few weeks now we have been able to see the start of what we hoped would be a flower spike. Dave and I have never had these gorgeous plants flower before so we weren’t sure what to expect or when. But this little spike has continued skyward to reveal itself as a flower spike (my heart is all a flutter!). This Orchid is the same as what is growing in my parent’s garden in northern New South Wales and I have fond memories of it bursting with flowers under the Eucalyptus tree in the front garden. It is very special to me and right now – I can picture its sunny winter position under the tall Eucalypt.

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We also have a potted Orchid, which was a gift from a friend and to my surprise it has three flower spikes. How exciting!!! This one seems closer to flowering given that the spike is not quite as tight. Stay tuned.

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But wait….. there’s more! We also have a number of Crucifix Orchids (Epidendrum spp.) which come from my parent’s garden (you can read about them here). They are in little pots scattered amongst other pot plants and get moved around from time to time depending on the direction of the sun or to make way for new potted additions. Last year one of these flowered the most magnificent pink flowers (pictured below) so this year I am hopeing that the orange one flowers as well as the pink one.

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I also think it will be a bumper Blueberry crop if the number of flowers on the Blueberry bush is any thing to go by. However, the nights haven’t been very cold and the blueberry really needs at least two weeks worth of really cold nights to produce delicious tasting berries. Only time will tell in this case.

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I hope this has inspired you to venture out into your garden today, you never know what delights await you.

Until next time

Carmel

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An Orchid Affair

24 Thursday May 2012

Posted by gardensandpolkadots in Gardens

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Crucifix Orchids, Epidendrum sp., garden design, horticulture, Orchids, Serendipity, Serendipity Garden Designs

Orchids have always appeared a little illusive to me. Tricky and unpredictable would be the best way to describe how I felt about them. They just seemed like a plant that other people grew and not me.I grew up in a small country town and I remember hearing about the Orchid Society and the Annual Orchid show. I remember one day driving past the hall where the Orchid Show was taking place and I looked in and it was a mass of colour and what appeared to be very excited people – chattering about their prized orchids. I just couldn’t imagine standing around talking about ‘orchids’ all day. Now I find myself in a completely new space, where each morning I look out of my kitchen window to will my little orchid cuttings on to success and abundant flowering – I’m sure this works!

My own fascination with orchids started when I visited my childhood home a few years ago. I discovered, or finally opened my eyes to the strategically placed orchids in the garden, on and around trees and on the veranda and deck. There in all their glory were Rock Orchids (Dendrobium speciosum –I’ll talk about these another time), the most beautiful pots of Crucifix Orchids (Epidendrum spp.) and I’m sure that other species were hidden there to! The Crucifix Orchids were flowering prolifically in orange, red and purple. The pots that the orchids are planted in have been placed in terracotta coloured pots and they look perfect on the north facing veranda. These beautiful plants kept on flowering over the years until recently when I was ‘home’ and discovered only one flower left. Nothing to worry about, they just needed re-potting and a little prune.

The Crucifix Orchids on the veranda. When they were flowering they were so beautiful, but even like this they look wonderful with their green leathery leaves.

So I got to work pruning. The re-potting will have to wait for another visit (hopefully not too far away!). As I mentioned, most of the old canes had finished flowering, but it was at the stage where they were starting to reshoot (up the length of the cane new leaves were starting to grow). I discovered this after I had cut some out, but it didn’t matter because the canes still needed to be removed to make the plant look tidy and to reduce the amount of energy that the plant was putting into these old canes. I want the plant to now put energy into healthy growth of the remaining canes and into producing beautiful, abundant flowers.

Without intending to I had collected for myself a number of cuttings, some were the canes with leaves, others were new growth with aerial root (roots that survive without being in the soil). I decided then that I would try my hand at propagating them to produce beautiful plants with fabulous flowers in my own garden.

An arrangment of orchid cuttings, surely at least one will take. I’m hopeful.

So, I set to work. First I purchased some orchid potting mix. Orchid potting mix is course and allows water to drain freely through and out the bottom of the pot. It also provides the orchid with the correct trace elements or minerals for healthy, strong growth.

As long as it says Orchid Mix on the bag you can be assured it is good for all orchids- course, free draining and contains the correct balance of trace elements.

You can see all of the goodness that makes this mix ideal for growing orchids.

Next I tidied up the cuttings a little then planted them. Because I am new to this I decided to experiment with the cuttings, using all the different ones I had to see which one will take best. I used old pots because they were small and wouldn’t take up too much room and as I found out once finished, they fit perfectly on my kitchen and office windowsill. So now I can look at, talk too and encourage them to become healthy, mature, beautiful looking plants through the day.

Old nursery pots are ideal for this use. Any size will do.

One of my little cuttings planted and ready to grow and blossum.

This gorgeous little cutting consists of a flower spike. I’m not sure how this one will go but I will encourage it on to good health and strength.

Four of my pots on the kitchen windowsill where I can will them to become healthy, mature beautiful looking plants.

Ideally I would have liked to propogated these orchids in warmer weather but as it turned out the opportunity presented itself to me now, in late autumn. So having said that I will be patient and nurturing to my new little plants and continue to encourage them.

If these cuttings don’t take I know where I can get more from and hopefully I wont have to bring them back to Sydney stuffed in my luggage on a plane.

If you have any nice orchid growing stories please share them here, we’d love to read about them.

Until next time.

Carmel

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