AboutOrchids

Botanical illustration is both an art and a science. It emphasizes scientific accuracy, but also captures the magic of plants. The Smithsonian video below highlights three important women who were botanical illustrators. They painted precise details of orchid blooms, but often didn’t receive credit or professional respect. Sarah Drake, Blanche Ames, and Regina Olson Hughes lived in the not-too-distant past, when women were discouraged or prevented from becoming scientists. Their illustrations remain valuable scientific works today.

A British botanical illustrator, Nelly Roberts, worked for 56 years as the official orchid artist for the RHS. Next week on April 2^nd at 2:00 pm, there will be a “Guided Walk and Nelly Roberts Tribute,” when a memorial will be placed on her unmarked grave in London. Learn more about Nelly Roberts from the Loughborough Road Histories Project.

It’s great to celebrate the first day of spring with some greenery, and this striking Lady Slipper certainly fits the bill. Its green stripes and squiggles are distinctive and dramatic. This is the Charming Lady Slipper, or Paphiopedilum venustum. I’ve had this plant for many years, but this past winter was the first time it bloomed with six flowers at once. The blossoms have lasted for over two months, and are now starting to fade.

This plant is an “album” variety, meaning that the flowers lack the reddish hues of the typical form, and the green really stands out. The last picture in the post shows a different specimen from an old orchid show with the more common color form. It has a little bit of red on the petals and pouch. They’re attractive plants even when out of bloom, with captivating green patterns, or mottling, on their leaves.

Read more about this Lady Slipper in this past post. Happy equinox.

Attend a free online symposium about orchid preservation. The Orchid Conservation Alliance does great work saving orchids. Leaders from three of its projects in Ecuador and Colombia will present updates and answer questions for this Zoom-posium. Even though there is no cost, prior registration is required. The event will be held on Saturday, March 26th, from 9:00 am – 1:30 pm, Pacific Daylight Time.

Citizen scientists can contribute a lot to orchid research. Australians can help by finding wild orchids and taking photos. First, choose an area to explore by checking the Atlas of Living Australia. Next, go into the wild, and be observant and curious. Take photos, not plants. Then, upload the pictures to iNaturalist Australia or Wild Orchid Watch. To help limit illegal plant poaching, it’s best to remove location metadata before posting online. Experts will verify the plant identity. Researchers and conservationists can use the records for their work.

Aussie orchids can be found all around coastal and inland areas, and there are even some desert species. Like much of its native wildlife, Australian orchids are fascinating and often bizarre. From Sun Orchids, Rock Orchids, and Donkey Orchids, to Greenhoods and Flying Duck Orchids, there are varieties which are showy, and others which don’t even look like flowers. Scientists hope to sequence DNA from every Australian native orchid species to understand and conserve them better.

Here are few more photos from last weekend’s big orchid show. The exhibit area and the sales area both featured wide varieties of species and hybrids. There was so much more than standard supermarket orchids. The flower colors, shapes, and fragrances inspired lots of superlatives. A few types, like the purple and white Dendrobium in the first picture above, had such strong scents that I could smell them through my mask. Whether it was the latest, showiest hybrids, or tiny, obscure species, there was something for everyone.

The orchid show schedule is picking up with spring. Events listed below have basic health precautions. Last-minute cancellations may happen, so it’s wise to double-check before attending.

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Dave and I were thrilled to attend the Pacific Orchid Expo in San Francisco yesterday. After a two year break, the show is as superb as past events, and there are plenty of vendors to satisfy orchid shopping needs. This year’s theme is “Orchid Masquerade.” Taking advantage of the pun, exhibitors have displayed orchids with celebrations of this Tuesday’s Mardi Gras, and also have emphasized the mask requirements for attendance. The event continues today and tomorrow at Golden Gate Park’s County Fair Building, 9th Avenue and Lincoln Way, in San Francisco. These photos highlight a few of the show’s wonders. Don’t miss it!

Excitement is growing ahead of the Pacific Orchid Expo, especially for me! I can’t wait to go to San Francisco’s first orchid show in two years, running from Friday, February 25th to Sunday, February 27th, with a special opening night on Thursday, February 24th. It will all happen at the County Fair Building, 1199 Ninth Avenue at Lincoln Way, in Golden Gate Park. Tickets are available online. Masks and proof of vaccination are required. These photos from the past few expos can only hint at the wonders to be found at this year’s show. See you there!

Over a dozen years ago, I was at an orchid show here in California, talking with a Hawaiian grower. I remember him saying that his orchids hadn’t gone dormant properly that year because they had a “hot winter.” That paradoxical phrase stuck with me. It seemed like an omen of climate change.

Now it’s 2022, and the SF Bay Area is having a hot winter. We live near San Francisco in Pacifica, a town known for cool, foggy weather. But early February has shown us repeated days that are just shy of 80°F (27°C.) While we’ve always had a mild climate, that’s much warmer than our winter norms. Historically, February is one of our rainiest months, but this year, there hasn’t been a drop for a month. We started our autumn rainy season with some heavy storms, but the weather returned to dry, warm drought conditions afterwards.

I’m certainly not one to complain about warm and sunny days, but it’s strange when winter seems like summer. It’s great that our furnace isn’t running, and that we’re wearing shorts instead of heavy coats and waterproof boots. But it’s yet another sign, along with a fire season which now spans the entire year, and other extreme weather events, that climate change is here. It’s already directly affecting our lives, and the lives of all the flora and fauna around us.

For my orchids, the warm temps and dry air means lots of watering. It’s a struggle to balance the dormant varieties’ need for a dry season with their need not to bake to a crisp. I don’t have any automated systems, but hand-water everything instead. That means that I have to water my plants daily, and spray down their leaves repeatedly to improve humidity. It’s much more watering than I usually do during summer. This weather also forces me to postpone any orchid repotting, since the warm, dry air is already stressing the plants. Now that winter is our new summer, what will our summer look like?

This growing catastrophe is especially infuriating because we have long known what the problem is, and how to fix it. The greed of powerful coal, oil, and gas companies prevents any effective actions. The longer we wait to tackle it, the worse it will be. We will require more extreme actions to change course. As we head off the climate change cliff, I’m afraid a very deep abyss awaits.

In Walnut Creek, California, Ruth Bancroft Garden is a succulent oasis. We recently enjoyed a visit, and were awed by the astounding array of cacti, succulents, and trees suited for arid climates. Many of the blooms are colorful architectural masterpieces. On top of that, the incredible geometry of the plants themselves is some of Mother Nature’s best work.

These plants are certainly well-equipped to handle California’s long drought. They make the most of every drop of water, with leaves and stems evolved to reduce moisture loss and withstand the sun. Sharp spines deter thirsty herbivores. Some are disguised as stones, until they loudly announce their presence with brilliant flowers. With shapes which seem to stretch the definition of what a plant can be, succulents are endlessly fascinating.

The garden includes a nursery with a wide selection of plants for sale. We came home with seeds for native California Poppies in purple and cream colors, to add to our own little garden oasis.

Learn more about Ruth Bancroft Garden in this post about our previous visit.