Garden Orchids in Bloom

Just to prove that I am actually aware of plants existing outside, and that I can't be good at everything.... I have experimented with hardy orchids in my front garden for the past few years with, it has to be said, very little success. I planted a few Cypripedium (don't worry, I got them cheap) but they didn't thrive at all. A couple are still alive, but they never bloom and appear to be diminishing year on year. My soil is way to acid for them, I guess that's the problem. I also planted Spiranthes cernua. That died straight away, probably for similar reasons. In a garden setting, especially in the cottage garden style as mine is, there tends not to be areas of bare soil or low growing vegetation that the orchids might like to grow through so they get overshadowed by other herbaceous perennials and occasionally shrubs, too.

My strategy is to change what I try to grow and where. This year I found Dactylorhiza foliosa in a trusted hardy plant nursery for really not much money so I thought I'd give it a go. I have planted it in the lawn among my Daffodils so the grass won't get cut until the Daffodils have died down and the Orchid has bloomed. It has put up a flower spike and is very nice indeed.

Dactylorhiza foliosa comes from Madeira and is reputed to be one of the more robust garden orchid that one can grow into a sizeable clump after only a few years if it likes your conditions. Hopefully I have planted it somewhere it will like and where it won't get overshadowed; robust as it is, it still needs well-behaved neighbours.

 

I really hope this one returns next year and that it starts to multiply so I can spread it round the garden. Although I've never grown this species before, I am quite familiar with Dactylorhiza species as quite a few of them are native to the UK. In fact, one appeared in a pot outside my front door last year and produced flowers. Only leaves this year, so I guess we'll see what happens next year. ID can always be a little tricky on our native species, but I think its a southern marsh orchid. Dactylorhiza seem to prefer acid soil or are possibly not so fussy. They are common on grassland and regularly appear in people's lawns. Here's hoping D. foliosa will perform well.

A few years ago, when I was more into plant sales than I am now, the supplier of tropical orchids I was dealing with had a few species of hardy and half-hardy species in stock. One of the species I got hold of was Bletilla striata, the Chinese ground orchid. I had real trouble selling them, so I planted quite a few of them in my front border and left them to their own devices. The area is periodically weeded and shrubs are kept under control so competition isn't too much of a problem there although the soil is very stony. The orchids very quickly established themselves.

The flowers are sort of past their best, but this is more down to the incessant heavy rain than it is the longevity of the flowers. In real life they are a very striking magenta and really stand out in my front border. I can't praise these highly enough. Don't get me wrong, they'll never be the stars of the show, but they return every year and appear to be gradually increasing. The young leaves are partially variegated as well.

I would have expected the slugs and snails to have jumped on these, but they leave them well alone. Also, the plants appear to be completely hardy. They disappear completely during autumn and emerge in around April or early May. Below ground, they form a kind of thick rhizome (it looks a lot like a kind of ginger).

I do have a few plants available, for either sale or exchange. If you fancy a go and you live in the UK, leave a comment below.