For much of the twentieth century, the perfect moth orchid was supposed to look as though someone had designed it with a compass, a ruler, and the unshakeable conviction that white was the last word in colour. Its flowers had to be large, round, flat, long-lasting, and flawless. The petals were to overlap without leaving…
Tag: Phalaenopsis
The Secret Life of a Leaf. Part I: The Night Shift
What happens inside a Phalaenopsis leaf when we switch off the lights? Evening settles over the house. The lights go out, the day’s small duties are done, and you plump up a pillow, leaving your orchid to its own devices. Watered, inspected from every angle and perhaps even congratulated on a new root, the moth…
The Genie in the Bottle, or Three Wishes. Part III: Make My Orchid Bloom
By now, the genie has served dinner, promised stronger roots and survived a minor identity crisis over whether humus exists outside the laboratory. He might reasonably assume that the worst is behind him. But there is still the third wish: “Genie, make my orchid bloom.” And this is where the real magic begins. Not the…
The Genie in the Bottle, or Three Wishes. Part II: Make My Orchid Stronger
The genie had barely settled back into the dark liquid when he heard the second wish: “Don’t just feed my orchid. Make it grow stronger.” This was a more serious request. Any well-formulated fertiliser can feed a plant. It supplies nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and the other essential elements, and—as we established in Part I—a root…
The Genie in the Bottle, or Three Wishes. Part I: Feed My Orchid
We walk into a garden centre and stop in front of the fertiliser shelf. On the left are the mineral fertilisers: precise, businesslike, armed with tables, percentages and chemical symbols. They look as though they have come straight from a laboratory and might ask us to sign the test report at any moment. On the…
The Cold Treatment
For years, one of the most trusted pieces of advice on getting moth orchids to flower sounded almost like a recipe: give the plant warm days, cooler nights and a difference of a few degrees between the two. A flower spike should then appear on cue, as though the orchid came with a thermometer in…