FENNELL’S ORCHID CATALOGUE 
FENNELL'S ORCHID NEWS 
From The Orchid Jungle 
Published By 
FENNELL ORCHID CO. 
Homestead, Florida 
CULTURAL HINTS 
The biggest lesson I have learned as 
a result of my lifetime association with 
orchids is that they are easily and 
simply grown. 
Most of the aura of mysterious dif- 
ficulty that has hung around them 
stems from ignorance, timidity and the 
pernicious habit of many growers, both 
professional and amateur, of trying to 
be very secretive about the methods 
used. 
Actually most large orchid establish- 
ments have been forced, in this country, 
to reduce their growing techniques to 
a sort of production-line system. For 
instance, we at the Orchid Jungle, 
thought, years ago, that each plant had 
to be watered individually. Now we 
water with overhead sprinklers and it 
takes one man all of an hour per week 
to both water and fertilize some 50,000 
plants. 
We used to think that a plant had to 
be potted between the time it bloomed 
and the start of its new growth, or at 
least before the new growths get well 
started. Now we pot practically any 
time except during the last half of the 
development of the growths. We find 
that feeding immediately after re- 
potting greatly reduces the shock of re- 
potting and allows the plant to make 
normal growth. 
We used to think that damping down 
of walks and benches was _ necessary 
several times daily to keep sufficient 
humidity in our houses. Now we never 
damp down anything and seldom water 
the plants more than once weekly, ex- 
cept Phalaenopsis and Cypripediums 
which we water two to three times 
weekly. (I realize that our outdoor con- 
ditions here provide more humidity than 
do the artificial conditions met in a 
heated greenhouse. But I also believe 
that often too much attention is paid to 
keeping high humidity in houses where 
less trouble would be encountered if the 
atmosphere was less moist and if the 
plants were given more air, light and 
food. 
Cattleyas, Dendrobiums and Vandas 
are certainly not delicate plants. They 
are adaptable, hardy and strong. If 
they weren’t they certainly couldn’t put 
up with the many different and often 
very bad conditions provided for them 
by many of us who grow them. I 
hardly know of a single person who has 
failed to grow these plants and to flower 
them if he (or she) has tried seriously. 
POETRY CONTEST 
WINNERS 
We were surprised by the number 
of orchid poems which our readers sent 
us and the job of choosing the best was 
so difficult we have decided to give 
awards to the two following, instead of 
to one: 
Mrs. C. W. Campbell of 609 Almeria 
Avenue, Coral Gables, sent the follow- 
ing original entry: 
“Dainty and delicate—fragile as mist 
Pristine in her loveliness, yet to be 
kissed. 
A true thing of beauty 
For the artist’s collection, 
The princess of all, 
The orchid—perfection!” 
Kak * 
Mrs. John R. Gearhart of 824 Rose- 
mont Road, Oakland 10, Calif., sent— 
“THE COMPLAINT OF A 
CATTLEYA” 
Give me the sunlight and the breeze, 
The tickling of the wind about my 
leaves, 
The soothing patter of the rain that 
comes 
By Nature’s bounty to revive the thirsty 
earth. 
Give me the lift that every living thitg 
is heir to 
The right to strive and struggle—to 
sueceed or die. 
Give me just these, and in return, 
In humble gratitude and joyous love, 
Pll bear for thee such flowers 
As you in your most secret heart 
Have never dared to hope for. 
A WPL hybrid in 4-inch pot to each 
of the above winners. 
* * AF 
Honorable mention: 
WOMEN! 
For poets, roses are enough; 
And lilies drip with glamour: 
But strutting orchids is the stuff 
For which all females clamour. 
Mrs. Jefferson Q. Stewart, 
Winchester, Kentucky. 
xx * 
And five pounds of Fenorco Plant 
Food to— 
I’m just a baby seedling 
But still I'm very wise, 
You see, I live at Fennell’s, 
Their Fenorco gave me size. 
My brothers and my sisters 
Left me long ago— 
Ill bet they wish they’d stayed here 
Just to watch me grow. 
1951 
DENDROBIUM MOUSMEE 
A very fine D. hybrid but a bit hard 
to bloom. This spike was over 18 
inches long. Flowers orange centered, 
peach edged. We are crossing it with 
freer flowering types. 
ee ee 
So why not tell your master, then 
How to give more pep and vim, 
Then you can bet at the Orchid Show 
The ribbons he will win. 
Winthrop W. Ely, 
Montrose, Pa. 
DENDROBIUMS REGAINED 
(Continued from Page 1) 
There are many, many other beauti- 
ful, free flowering easily grown Dend- 
robes that are all too rarely seen. There 
are several sections of this genus; in 
fact, D. Superbum, D. Formosum and 
D. Phalaenopsis are further apart 
horticulturally and for all practical 
purposes in breeding than are Cattleyas, 
Laelias and Epidendrums, for while 
the latter can be crossed almost at will 
between the genera—the three Dend- 
robes mentioned belong to _ distinct 
groups which have not been crossed 
one with the other. 
A great and interesting field awaits 
the hybridist who will work intensively 
with Dendrobiums. There are many 
hybrids in the deciduous group to which 
Superbum and Nobile belong and quite 
a few hybrids in each of the other 
groups, but since World War II a 
number of interesting new species from 
the South Pacific have come into cul- 
tivation in this country and some very 
interesting crosses are now possible 
especially in the D. Phalaenopsis group. 
