22 
House & Garden 
ORCHIDS of EASY CULTURE 
Popular Sorts Which Do Well Under Conditions Easily Supplied—Cultural 
Directions to Enable You to Raise Your Ozun Little Echo from the Tropics 
L. GREENLEE 
The Miltonias provide 
long sprays of flowers 
well adapted to cutting. 
One of the rosea forms is 
above 
S OONER or later al¬ 
most everyone 
skilled in floriculture 
yields to the fascination 
of orchids. Their deli¬ 
cate brilliancy of color¬ 
ing, oddity of growth, 
the far tropical lands 
from which they come, 
the startling histories of 
some, the mysterious 
way in which all allure 
and employ insects, 
combine to fire the 
imagination and hold 
t h e interest. Stories 
told by travelers who, 
in Borneo, have seen 
ma s s e s of Ccelogyne 
shining like snow- 
wreaths on branches of 
giant trees, or great 
tufts of Vanda coerulea, 
loveliest of blue 
orchids, draping the 
rugged Khassian hills, 
reinforced by the thrill¬ 
ing adventures of 
orchid hunters in far 
countries, are calculated 
to enhance the beauty of 
orchids as well as their 
monetary price. 
A great proportion of 
the orchids we see are direct importations. The 
flowers facing you across some dinner table a 
few hours ago were probably cut from a cat- 
tleya that came from Colombia, a vanda from 
the East Indies, a cypripedium from the Hima¬ 
layas, or an odontoglossum from the mist- 
shrouded slopes of the Andes. 
An attractive and exciting feature of orchid¬ 
growing is that practically no two imported 
plants are alike—each one has an individual¬ 
ity. The glorious uncertainty of not knowing 
exactly what blending of coloring will develop, 
the always present possibility of something very 
fine and rare being flowered in your collection, 
gives orchid buying all the excitement of a 
lottery in which there are no blanks. Then, 
too, orchids have such a high-bred air, are so 
distinct from the multitude of familiar flowers, 
that they seem to belong to a nobler race. 
Many hold their beauty undimmed for months 
together; the flowers, when cut, retain their 
freshness of petal from two to eight weeks. 
And the queer orchid plants! Once established 
in congenial soil and climate under good care 
they are practically immortal, seemingly en¬ 
dowed with perpetual youth and vigor. 
Some Outlines of Culture 
While for the many it will never be so easy to 
grow well an orchid as it is to grow a prize gera¬ 
nium or tulip, since natural orchidaceous condi¬ 
tions have not been studied, the cultivation of a 
number of choice species cannot be called diffi¬ 
cult. Some of the most attractive exotic orchids, 
within the reach of almost any purse, can be 
grown in an ordinary greenhouse. A smaller, 
but still a goodly company, with proper atten¬ 
To the left is a new type, 
showing an unusual com¬ 
bination of long sepals 
and 
compact, 
corolla 
fringed 
Authoritative figures place the number of 
orchid species now known at about 15 , 000 . 
Every year sees many additions to this list, as 
orchid hunters penetrate hitherto unexplored 
regions. 
Orchids are distributed all over the world 
except in the polar regions and deserts. The 
majority of the species occur in the tropics. 
Most orchids native to temperate zones are 
terrestrial, while those from the tropics are 
epiphytal, growing on the branches of trees or 
similar places. Contrary to some popular be¬ 
lief, these epiphytes are not parasites in the 
sense of deriving nourishment from the sub¬ 
stance to which they cling. They are strictly 
“air plants,” securing their sustenance from 
the atmosphere by means of aerial roots. 
tion may be cozily established in bow windows, 
shedding quite a halo of delight about the room. 
It will be helpful for beginners in orchid 
culture to remember that these plants have a 
season of rest and one of growth, just as, in 
the tropics, they have a rainy season for active 
increase and a dry one wherein the soft growth 
is ripened for the production of flowers. Intel¬ 
ligent observation and affectionate divination 
of needs will overcome many unpromising con¬ 
ditions. It is an in¬ 
spiration to remember 
the success of one well- 
known collector in New 
York who grew, all in 
one house, orchids from 
every climate. The 
plants respond readily 
to common-sense modes 
of treatment, suffering 
oftenest through igno- 
ranee of their few 
needs. The road to suc¬ 
cess lies in studying 
these and carefully 
choosing only the kinds 
whose needs it is possi¬ 
ble to supply. 
Orchids growing nat¬ 
urally in high altitudes, 
where the air is rarefied 
and the temperature low 
and evert throughout 
the year, are the most 
difficult to domesticate. 
The odontoglossums, 
with their long, curving 
sprays of flowers, spici¬ 
ly perfumed and spark¬ 
ling as if powdered with 
diamond dust, belong to 
this class. They are so 
beautiful that they were 
hard to give up and now 
glorify a number of amateur collections. A 
real amateur is quick to devise ways and means 
to make comfortable her loved plants. If there 
is nothing but large windows in which to grow 
them she will find, by experimenting, which 
window and which nook in the particular win¬ 
dow’ best suits a fastidious plant, hang other 
plants in such a way as to give it either shade 
or sunlight, and keep it cool in summer by 
placing it outdoors under trees. 
Orchid Temperatures 
In most glass houses there is a variation in 
the temperature between the two ends. This is 
of great advantage to the orchid grower. Kinds 
requiring less warmth may be kept at the cooler 
end with other sorts placed there temporarily 
for rest and ripening of new growths. The 
warmer end, of course, is for orchids from a 
warmer climate and orchids making rapid 
growth. Cattleyas, cypripeds and most of the 
dendrobes love the same night temperature of 
-55 to 58 degrees that we give roses in winter. 
In summer, of course, temperatures are beyond 
control, but orchids may then be placed under 
trees, in coldframes, or their portion of the 
greenhouse may be shaded and the ventilators 
kept open day and night, so that there will 
always be an abundance of buoyant fresh air. 
Abundant light is also much emphasized now 
in orchid culture. All kinds are much less 
shaded now than formerly and lower tempera¬ 
tures are given them when at rest. It is sur¬ 
prising how much cold many sorts will bear 
when dormant. Safe winter temperatures for 
most orchids are 55 to 60 degrees at night, 
rising to 65 and 75 on sunny days. 
