The Garden Magazine, November, 1920 
149 
sideration. Anything that influences the plant unfavorably 
should be kept at a distance. 
Comparatively few Orchids may be grown in ordinary flower 
pots; the greater part of them do best in porous flat dishes, or 
latticed boxes or baskets, or on fragments of bark. Epiphytic 
Orchids are sometimes grown in a small flower pot inverted in 
a larger one with good drainage provided. A mixture of fibrous 
meadow humus or the root masses of various Ferns torn and 
loosened, or Sphagnum moss, is used as a soil with charcoal, 
cleaned potsherds, and well washed river sand; this base is 
modified also for the terrestrial kinds. Orchid pots are made 
with holes in the sides so that air can reach the roots. The 
bottom of the pot is covered with potsherds to about one- 
quarter its height, Sphagnum placed on it, and this layer covered 
with a loose, rich soil. 
If it becomes necessary to shift or repot, do the work just after 
their period of rest when they begin to form new roots. As a 
rule, soil Orchids may be transplanted every second or third year, 
the Epiphytes less often, and always with the greatest care; 
under no circumstances should the roots be injured. If they 
can not be loosened from the pot, the pot must be broken, and 
the fragments of the pot to which the roots cling, must also be 
put into a larger pot. 
Among the great hosts of known Orchids in cultivation there 
are a few that stand out in popular esteem because of their 
general adaptability. The rest are for the connoisseur. 
A selection for general use would embrace: the largest winter 
flower, Cattleya Trianae; the largest spring flower, Cattleya 
Mossiae; the largest summer flower Cattleya gigas; the largest 
autumn flower, Cattleya labiata; the “Baby Orchid” Odonto- 
glossum grande; the Amateur’s Orchid, Lycaste Skinneri; the 
most popular Lady-slipper, Cypripedium insigne; the best white 
THREE AND A HALF YEARS AND STILL WAITING 
This seedling Cattleya now in a three-inch pot is still quite 
a juvenile and has not as yet made any approach to flower- 
ing. (For later stage see the illustration on page 126) 
AFTER SIX 
MONTHS 
(actual size) 
Here in actual 
size the half-year 
old Orchid plants 
are seen growing 
on the surface of 
the seed bed 
NINE MONTHS AND 
A YEAR! (half size) 
The young plants are 
now getting along well as 
these half size portraits 
show 
EIGHTEEN MONTHS 
OLD AND FOUR INCHES 
H IGH (half size) 
The grower is well satisfied as 
these youngsters are still de- 
veloping vigorously. He has 
only a few more years to wait 
now for definite results! 
Orchid, Coelogyne cristata; the largest Laelia, L. purpurata; 
the best winter-blooming Laelia, L. anceps. 
Some of the best Orchids recommended for general cultiva- 
tion in a night winter temperature of fifty to fifty-five degrees 
are as follows, their flowering period being indicated also: 
Cypripedium insigne (Nov. -Dec.); Coelogyne cristata (Feb.- 
March); Lycaste Skinneri (spring); Odontoglossum grande 
(Sept. -Dec. ) ; Vanda caerulea (late autumn); O. odoratum 
(winter and spring); Oncidium crispum (April-June) ; O. Mar- 
shallianum; O. tigrinum (Nov. -Dec.); O. varicosum Rogersii 
(Oct. -Dec.); Dendrobium nobile; Odontoglossum Rossii (Jan.- 
March); O. pulchellum (spring); Oncidium ornithorrhyncum 
(Oct.); Ada aurantiaca (any time); Cattleya citrina (March- 
April); Cypripedium spectabile (hardy); Laelia anceps; L. har- 
pophylla (summer); L. Jongheana (summer); Selenipedium 
Sedeni (winter); Stanhopea insignis (July-Oct.). In such a 
large group there is so much scope for individual fancy that 
possibly no two people can agree on more than the first half 
dozen kinds. That, indeed, is one of the great attractions in 
Orchid growing — the scope for individual fancy. 
