Cordyline fruticosa and orchids

some of my favourite cordys for winter colour and hardy orchids for that exotic feel

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been collecting cordyline fruticosas and also orchids that are hardy for my climate and look exotic when they are in flower as well as making wonderful tree decoration, I have quite a few now attached firmly by their roots to tree forks and branches, I carefully glue them and tie them with bird netting and in a matter of months they are gripping on with their roots and the bird netting can come off. Oncidiums are remarkably hardy as are cymbidiums, Miltonias and Bifrenarias. I have only had one flower so far from my maxilaria ternefolia, a beautiful, small flower smelling of coconut. I have got a lot of my cordylines from cuttings from either asking someone who had them in their garden or cuttings from florist suppliers so don’t know many of the true names.

 

Kiwi and one that was called green centre but I loved it for it’s pink stems. The leaves have now turned bright pink over the season

 

The white leafed one I bought as pink edge and haven’t managed to find one similar, it is next to my Persian shield and looks stunning when both have their summers colours. The red and pink leaf I believe is Tartan

 

Fiji by my water feature and Daybreak is the other one, it took a long time in getting it’s colours and this summer it has beautiful new leaves. Both these cordys have very large leaves

 

The really bright ones here are cuttings from a Samoan woman who generously gave me enough to even give some away and the other was also called pink edge

Orchids for a warm temperate climate

 

Cymbidiums. I leave them in pots, scattered around the garden but some have grown down into the ground, others are in old hollowed out stumps. Snails love them so I use copper tape as soon as I see a flower stem arriving. apparently it’s the favourite part

 

Oncidium Charlesworthy is the pink one and the yellow is the common dancing ladies. Both grow very well in trees and I have them in filtered light but Dancing ladies I have split off and one of those is coping and thriving in full sun

 

Miltonia hanging around in Schlefera Amate

Bifrenaria. This is as hardly as cymbidiums and flowered the first year it was in the garden. It has a beautiful scent

Sarcochilus, a sweet little orchid that is happy growing on a rock

Epidendrum or crucifix orchid, a great hardy orchid that can handle sun but looks better in filtered light. There are a lot of colours and they can be planted straight into my clay soil. They climb up supports fairly quickly

 

last but not least a scented Dendrobium in a tree and another dendrobium in soil