260 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



November, 1912. 



Orchid Grooving for Amateurs* 



J. A. Ellis, M.L.A., Ottawa, Ont. 



N' EXT to their beauty the strongest 

 recommendation for orchids is that 

 they remain such a long time in 

 bloom. The blooms of those shortest- 

 lived will last two weeks, and the flowers 

 of the longer-lived ones are good for 

 six weeks to two months. When we 

 consider the comparatively short lives of 

 nearly all other flowers this appears 

 amazing. It will readily he seen that 



AjFive-year-old Cherry Tree in Mr. Birhen't Garden 



See article on page :ioy 



with a careful selection of plants it is 

 Cjuite easy to have lots of bloom ail 

 through the dull winter months. 



Very few people in Canada grow or- 

 chids. This can only be because few 

 have tried to grow them. As I have 

 pointed out, they are not expensive, are 

 easy to grow, and give" blooms which 

 are unsurpassable. I doubt if anyone 

 who has grown them will ever discon- 

 tinue doing so. I have gradually dis- 

 carded my other greenhouse plants, un- 

 til now I have scarcely any but orchids. 



Perhaps because these plants are not 

 extensively grown in Canada I had to 

 find out largely for myself what varie- 



•The concluding portion of an article, the 

 first part of which appeared in the February, 

 19i2, ieeue of The Canadian Horticulturist. 



ties were best for the amateur. I have 

 in my time had many kinds ; and as the 

 result of some years' experience, can 

 recommend those hereafter mentioned to 

 the beginner. I have not space to de- 

 scribe these anything but shortly. 



Cattleya labiata, C. Trianae, C. 

 Schroderae. The Cattleyas are the 

 finest of all orchids. They are those 

 large beautiful pink and rose colored 

 blooms which the florists 

 sell. They grow two or 

 three flowers on a stem. Cat- 

 tleya labiata has a tendency 

 to die out after a few years. 

 There are many other .varie- 

 ties of Cattleyas worth 

 growing, but the above are 

 the best winter blooming 

 varieties. There are a great 

 number of hybrid Cattleyas, 

 which are also very beauti- 

 ful. Cattleyas will not bloom 

 well unless grown near the 

 glass. 



Cattleya Citrina is an odd 

 plant. It is grown on a 

 board or a piece of bark, 

 with moss around the roots. 

 The bulbs and leaves will 

 always grow downwards, no 

 matter in what position it is 

 placed. 



Odontoglossum grande. 

 This is a magnificent large 

 chocolate colored flower with 

 yellow stripes, growing five 

 or so flowers on a spike. 



O. Crispum and O. Halli 

 are good. The Odontoglos- 

 sums, however, find our 

 summer a little too hot for 

 them, and do not thrive 

 quite as well as they do in 

 iingland. 



The Oncidiums suit the 



Canadian climate first-rate. 



Oncidium varicosum Rog- 



ersii is, perhaps, the best. 



It gives trusses of pure yellow flowers, 



with one hundred to two hundred flowers 



on each truss. Other good Oncidiums 



are: Forbesi, Tigrinum, Marshallianum, 



Crispum, Ornithorynchum, Concolor, 



Gravesianum, Sarcodes. There are manv 



others as good or nearly so. 



The Cypripediums (or Lady Slippers) 

 are best grown on the bench. C. In- 

 signe is the easiest to grow, as this class 

 of orchid has perhaps been more hybrid- 

 ized than any other. There are thou- 

 sands of varieties of Cypripediums, and 

 a large number which the amateur can 

 readily grow in a greenhouse such as I 

 have mentioned. The flowers remain in 

 bloom from six to eight weeks. Alto- 

 gether I consider the Cattleyas and the 

 Cypripediums the best orchids. 



The Laelias are ail ea.sy to grow. L. 

 Anceps and L. Autumnalis especially. 

 L. praestans is also worth growing. 



Vanda coerulea simply revels in all 

 the air possible. It is a tall stem with 

 short leaves growing from each side. 

 The flower spike comes from the axis of 

 a leaf. It has beautiful blue flowers, five 

 or six on a spike, and blooms in summer. 



Lycaste Skinneri can be readily grown, 

 and it gives very beautiful large rose- 

 colored flowers. 



Laelio-Cattleyas are, of course, hy- 

 brids. The flowers are most exquisite, 

 and are not hard to grow. 



Denrobium Nobile is worth growing, 

 and so is D. thyrsiflorum. The flowers 

 of the latter are white and yellow, and 

 grow in bunches like grapes. D. War- 

 dianum is also good, but dies out in two 

 or three years. 



The amateur will make no mistake in 

 cultivating any of the foregoing varie- 

 ties. 



A good half-dozen orchids for the 

 amateur are: Cattleya Trianae, Cattleya 

 Schroderae, Oncidium varicosum Roger- 

 sii, Odontoglossum grande, Laelia An- 

 ceps, Cypripedium insigne. 



Another good six are : Cypripedium 

 nitens, Laelia autumnalis, Oncidium 

 Forbesi, Vanda coerulea, Lycaste Skin- 

 neri, Laelia praestans. 



No doubt this list can be greatly im- 

 proved upon. It is simply a short list 

 of those orchids which, from my own 

 experience, can be easily grown, and 

 which should prove satisfactory. 



I do not pretend, however, to have 

 even begun to exhaust the list of those 

 which an amateur can grow successfully. 

 I have only mentioned those which 1 

 have grown myself without any great 

 difficulty. The list is somewhat restrict- 

 ed, too, because I have included princi- 

 pally those which bloom in winter only. 



It is, of course, impossible in a short 

 article such as this to do more than touch 

 the fringe of orchid growing, and th ■ 

 many lovely varieties of orchids. I 



have tried merely to show that this is a 

 field into which the amateur need not be 

 ."fraid to venture, and that many of the 

 popular impressions about the difficulties 

 and expense of orchid growing are fal- 

 lacies. Those who venture into this 

 field will, I am satisfied, like myself, 

 wonder why it is that they did not go 

 into it before. The wonderfully beauti- 

 ful flowers which can be grown by the 

 amateur makes it a most alluring field 

 to enter upon. 



Lovely flowers are the smiles of God's 

 goodness . — Wilberforce. 



Some liquid fertilizer should be given 

 geraniums during the winter. "Bonora" 

 is the best prepared fertilizer for window 

 plants that I know of. It can be pur- 

 chased with full directions at seed stores. 

 — Wm. Hunt, O.A.C., Guelph, Ont. 



