Landscaping With Orchids

[epiphyte78]

A curator of a local botanical garden came over for a tour yesterday. To help him further imagine the possibilities...I created a gallery on flickr of some of my favorite shots of eurythermal orchids growing on trees.

[GardenTheater]

I'm in awe of your landscaping with orchids photos. I really enjoyed the orchid thriving and covered in snow. Thanks for posting.

[epiphyte78]

Just ran across these photos of orchids mounted on a Ginseng bonsai tree. The orchids attached to the bonsai are Angraecum didieri, Aerangis spiculata and Podangis dactyloceras.

The appeal is really broadened so it's kind of surprising that you don't see this more often. One argument that I occasionally hear against putting orchids on trees is that you can't take them to shows. Well, if you attached orchids to a bonsai tree then you could take the arrangement to both orchid shows and bonsai shows. If the bonsai qualified as a succulent plant then you could take it to cactus and succulent shows as well.

In addition to bonsai trees, there are many common house plants that would make suitable hosts for orchids. If you scroll down this document you'll find 24 such examples.

[epiphyte78]

If anybody's interested...here's my post over on the palm forum discussing some really nice shots on flickr of orchids growing on palm trees...Orchids on Palms.

[Leafmite]

In the home environment, I think it could be a challenge to do, one that is intriguing. I have, for example, a large hibiscus, fiscus, Rosemary (for the pine forest minis), bay laurel and lemon verbena. If I could find little minis that can tolerate the variations of the seasons/indoor-outdoor transition and accept the needs and conditions of the hosts, it would be fun. I think the worry would be viruses, though. If you are putting an orchid on a plant you prize, the orchid probably should be tested first. I'll have to bring this up at the next society meeting. Thanks for the cool post!
Leafmite