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DESCRIPTION:

This is one of those few orchids that will grow in regular soil. It makes a wonderful container plant and can tolerate partial sun. It is just starting to send up bloom stalks here in zone 9A mid February- March. Blooms are a pretty lavender on an 10-12" stalk, look much like small catteya orchids. Zone 5 (with protection) to zone 9.

BACKGROUND:

Native to East Asia, a lovely, long-lasting cut flower.

GROWING CONDITIONS:

These can be grown in pots (keep above freezing) or in the ground in areas that stay above about 25 degrees F. The disadvantage of pots is that they will require watering, but they can be located easier and put somewhere that does not get all afternoon sun. Sometimes it's not possible to have afternoon shade when planting them in the ground. We grow all of ours in the ground where they get sun until about 1pm but have shade the rest of the day. We have found that the location and amount of sun seems to make a great difference. The tubers are not planted deeply and they don't like our hot afternoon Florida sun here in zone 9. A disadvantage we have is that because they start growing and often bloom as early as February here in northeast Florida we can get late freezing weather that destroys the flowers or buds.

The tubers have a flattened disc shape, just over 1" in diameter and about 1/2 thick. They grow by sending out 2-3 "arms" from the central disks. These will each put up a leaf, form roots, bloom and eventually grow to also be about 1" in diameter. Each tuber blooms just once. This process continues every year and eventually it will form an intertwined clump of dozens of rhizomes. Once the new projections ("arms") send up a new leaf it should be safe to sever the projection from the central disc with a knife or pruning shear and plant it just deep enough to cover the tuber. We put a thin layer of cypress mulch over the dirt.

DESCRIPTION OF ITEM FOR BID:

You are bidding on TWO bulbs/tubers about 1/2-1" in diameter (between the size of a dime and a quarter). You will not receive a large cluster of multiple tubers. They will have leaves from April until the first freeze which is usually late November.

PHOTOS/ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

These are pictures of our plants, so you know exactly what they look like and what you will receive. The photos show the plant in various stages of growth. Please feel free to contact us for additional information, and click on "Me" following our star rating. Also, we invite you to go to our store (little red door) and look at other items we have for sale.