Orchid Family
ORCHIDACEAE
Planting and Growing Orchids
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow orchids in the accompanying table’s tabs:
-
- Flowers, foliage, and root structure of orchids
- Plant hardiness and growing conditions for orchids
- Season of bloom and planting time for orchids
- When, how deep, and where to plant orchids
- How to plant orchids
- Watering, fertilizing, care, and pests or diseases of orchids
- Landscape and container uses of orchids
- Comments about orchids and its features
Growing Orchids
The Orchid family includes 17,000–30,000 species of mounding, spreading, trailing, or vining, epiphytic or terrestrial, often rhizomatous, tuberous, or pseudobulbous, deciduous or evergreen perennial herbs. Most are 4–42 in. (10–107 cm) tall, wide, or long but sometimes reach 50 ft. (15 m) long.
Mostly shiny or smooth, light green, sword-shaped, pointed leaves, 3–24 in. (75–610 mm) long, forming an alternate or circular, radiating base, or extending from vines in opposite pairs.
Semi-dormant in winter.
Among the more than 80 cultivated genera and hybrids are plants from the generas Agineta, Bletilla, Brassia, Cattleya, Cymbidium, Dendrobium, X Epicattleya, Epidendrum, Laelia, Liparis, X Odontonia, Oncidium, Orchis, Pathiopedilum, Phalaenopsis, Pleione, Spiranthes, Vanda, and Vanilla.
Planting and Care Guide
Blooms
Many showy or inconspicuous, blue, green, pink, purple, red, tan, white, yellow, irregular, often hairy, lipped or lobed, deep-throated flowers, 1/4–6‑in. (6–150‑mm) wide, in arching sprays, to 3 ft. (90 cm) tall, or basal clusters, year-round or in summer–autumn.
Best Climates
Hardy, semi-hardy, or tender, depending on species. Zones 3–11.
Most cultivated species are tropical or subtropical, zones 8–11.
Soil Type and Fertility
Moist to damp, well-drained bark chips, bark rafts, or humus, depending on species.
In water features, shoreline sites rooted just above the water level.
Fertility: Rich–low. 6.0–7.0 pH. Special orchid soil and growing mediums available.
Where and How to Plant
Autumn in partial to full shade, 1–4 ft. (30–120 cm) apart.
Proper Care
Easy–moderate. Keep moist; allow growing medium to dry between waterings. Reduce water during dormancy. Mist foliage.
Fertilize bimonthly; dilute liquid fertilizer to half its recommended strength.
Temperature requirements vary by species. Protect tender species from frost or move indoors in winter. Propagate by division, seed.
About This Plant
Good choice for accents, backgrounds, hanging baskets, beds, containers, tree planters in natural, woodland gardens or water feature margins. Good for tropical effects. Slug, snail and fungal disease susceptible.
Species and Hybrids of Orchids:
Common Orchid Genera:
-
-
- Agineta
- Bletilla
- Brassia
- Cattleya
- Cymbidium
- Dendrobium
- Epidendrum
- Oncidium
- Paphipedilum
- Phalaenopsis
- Pleione
- Vanda
-
Popular Orchid Hybrids:
-
-
- X Epicattleya
- X Odontonia
-
About Orchids
With nearly 800 genera and as many as 30,000 species, the ORCHIDACEAE family of mostly epiphytic perennial herbs is the second largest of all plant families.
While many orchids are tropical, they also are found in subtropical, temperate, and even polar climates. Some orchid species are native in every continent, except Antarctica.
Most orchids grow with fountain-shaped sprays of strap- or sword-shaped foliage, while some are branching and open.
Orchids range in height from barely visible, ground-hugging miniatures as small as 4 in. (10 cm), to arboreal climbing vines as tall as 50 ft. (15 m).
Orchids have a place in the outdoor landscape year-round in subtropical climates and during summer in temperate areas. Use orchids as container plants for seasonal outdoor display, moving them indoors when temperatures cool.
Add a tropical flair to your patio, deck, or balcony with orchids once frost hazard has passed, or dress a water feature or deciduous tree with hanging baskets of orchids.
They are treasured for their enduring, often showy flowers, in most of the pastel shades plus white, variegated, or striped, borne year-round or in summer and autumn.
Choose cultivars for your landscape or indoor locations from the popularly cultivated orchid genera and hybrids listed.
Planting and Caring for Orchids
Plant orchids in autumn in partial to full shade. They are at their best in mild to warm, humid climates, and in moist, shady garden sites.
A few orchid species naturally grow directly in humus-rich, fast-draining soil. Plant most others in a fast-draining medium of bark chips that mimics the native conditions found in trees or on the forest floor.
To prepare for planting, soak the bark until it is saturated, then allow it to drain completely. Orchids are subject to diseases that infect and soften their roots, but most cultivated species are pest free and easy to rear in containers.
Avoid allowing standing water to remain around the orchids’ roots. They do best in damp conditions. Replace their soil or planting medium annually in summer after flowers fade.
Orchids prefer acidic liquid fertilizers. Fertilize every two weeks as you water, diluting the fertilizer to half its package-recommended strength.
As they grow orchids produce numerous offset plants; divide them carefully at their base, then repot the offsets into a new container with new bark until they are fully established.