# Orchis and Ophrys 2013



## tonyw (Feb 13, 2013)

First three of the year flowering

Ophrys lutea
Orchis anatolica
Orchis morio


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## The Orchid Boy (Feb 13, 2013)

Cute little things!


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## biothanasis (Feb 13, 2013)

Wonderful beauties!!!!


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## Ozpaph (Feb 13, 2013)

the spotted leaves are attractive, too.


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## Erythrone (Feb 13, 2013)

Beauties!


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## SlipperFan (Feb 14, 2013)

Cool plants and flowers!


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## Dido (Feb 15, 2013)

Nice terrestials


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## Marc (Feb 17, 2013)

Very nice


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## cnycharles (Feb 17, 2013)

very nice


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## tonyw (Mar 13, 2013)

A couple more in flower

Ophrys fusca

Orchis papilionacae


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## Erythrone (Mar 13, 2013)

Cute!!!!!!


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## Dido (Mar 13, 2013)

nice too keep them coming


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## NYEric (Mar 13, 2013)

Nice Orphys, etc. I wish we could get them here.


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## Rick (Mar 13, 2013)

Very nice Tony:clap:

Are these first time bloomers?


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## tonyw (Mar 13, 2013)

No they have all bloomed over several years. I have had some of my plants more than ten years.


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## Rick (Mar 13, 2013)

tonyw said:


> No they have all bloomed over several years. I have had some of my plants more than ten years.



That's awesome!!

Can you share some of your culture? Do you have to repot and divide annually?


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## JeanLux (Mar 14, 2013)

Coool! Do you grow them inside in Winter? or permanently? at what temps? Jean


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## tonyw (Mar 15, 2013)

I grow most of them in 3 inch clay pots in a compost of 50% John Innnes which is a loam based one and 50% grit. The pots are topped with a layer of grit which keeps the rosettes of the compost and so dry. The pots are plunged on a sand bench with a soil warming cable set at 5c. Over the top I have a box with an opening lid made of wood and bubble wrap which I keep open unless a frost is threatened. When closed it keeps the air temperature at about 2c.

These mostly all form small tubers about the size of a thumbnail and I repot them in September and give them a first watering. The rosette forms in the autumn and the pots are kept moist during winter but it is essential that water does not get into the rosette. In late winter early spring they start to produce the flower shoots.At this time the new tuber is already formed. Soon after the leaves yellow and at this stage I stop watering and put the pots dry in the garage for the summer. I do not bake them. Division is not an option and apart from Ophrys insectifera they never produce an additional tuber. 

No additional feeding but I keep careful watch for aphids which can be a problem with them being frost free.


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## TDT (Mar 15, 2013)

Very impressive system. I especially like anatolica!


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## JeanLux (Mar 16, 2013)

TDT said:


> Very impressive system....!



I agree :clap: !!!! Jean


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## tonyw (Mar 18, 2013)

Another two in flower,both 

Orchis morio


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## SlipperFan (Mar 18, 2013)

Very sweet -- both of them.


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## biothanasis (Mar 22, 2013)

I think that the lutea might be sicula... 

Great growing place!!!!


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## tonyw (Mar 23, 2013)

biothanasis said:


> I think that the lutea might be sicula...
> 
> Great growing place!!!!



The trouble is I do not believe there is any such thing as sicula.....

They are all just variations on lutea.


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## biothanasis (Mar 23, 2013)

tonyw said:


> The trouble is I do not believe there is any such thing as sicula.....
> 
> They are all just variations on lutea.



This is another aspect of things, so you can be right :wink: Same goes for me for O. fusca...!
Besides, plants do not have names... heehehe!


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## tonyw (Apr 23, 2013)

Some more in flower at the moment all from the Mediterranean except the last.

Aceras anthropophorum
Ophrys fusca
Ophrys lutea two forms
Orchis mascula
Ophrys speculum
Calypso bulbosa


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## Ron-NY (Apr 23, 2013)

love your collection of terrestrials. I came across this morning a picture of Orchis italia. Very cool flower on that species.


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## tonyw (May 15, 2013)

final ophrys of the year

Ophrys fuciflora and a

Calanthe tricarinata with wasp having difficulty with the pollinia stuck to its head.


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## SlipperFan (May 15, 2013)

Great collection you have!


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## KyushuCalanthe (May 15, 2013)

Ophrys are so much fun. What are you growing your Calypso in?


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## em_tee_w (May 16, 2013)

Which variety is the Calypso? Obviously not americana but of the others I only know what var. occidentalis looks like.


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## Dido (May 16, 2013)

Congrats on your beautys, would be interested too how you grow your calypso and in which tmeps and sunlight conditions


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## NYEric (May 16, 2013)

Thanks so much for sharing.  I again wish there was a source here in the USA for Ophrys!


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## naoki (May 16, 2013)

Amazing, I have a feeling that I'll get sucked into terrestrials eventually... Eric, did you see this thread?
http://www.orchidboard.com/communit...ra/67681-group-order-terrestrial-orchids.html
He is organizing a group order from Germany: http://www.myorchids.de/main1.htm
They have lots of Ophrys


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## tonyw (May 17, 2013)

The calypso is var occidentalis. I grow them in rotted pine needles from a Pinus nigra growing in a friends garden and add extra drainage in the form of sand. They are in clay pots plunged in sand under the bench in a cold greenhouse and kept damp all year round but extra water in the growing season. They never get direct sunlight. We have a very temperate climate with most years a minimum of -5c in winter and a high on an odd day of +25c in summer. It is mainly dull and for the past two years has not rained on only 30 days in the year.
Clearly my conditions suit them and most years they divide and produce two new bulbs so I am building up a nice colony.


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## NYEric (May 17, 2013)

naoki said:


> Amazing, I have a feeling that I'll get sucked into terrestrials eventually... Eric, did you see this thread?
> http://www.orchidboard.com/communit...ra/67681-group-order-terrestrial-orchids.html
> He is organizing a group order from Germany: http://www.myorchids.de/main1.htm
> They have lots of Ophrys


Thanks; but I'm not a member of that forum. If you can get an email for me I'd appreciate it and order a few also!


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## tonyw (May 18, 2013)

having read the pages on that forum relating to the serapis orchis and ophrys I found it difficult to get any clear details of what conditions it was suggesting they grew in. These are mainly Mediterranean plants which require a warm damp winter when they are growing and a dry summer when they are dormant. They never want it wet and overhead watering in cold conditions quickly results in rotting of the rosette. The vendors site does though give excellent cultural advice although I would disagree on the hardiness comments.


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## tonyw (May 18, 2013)

First of my dactylorhiza,a common high meadow plant in the mountains of Europe

Dactylorhiza sambucina yellow form. It also comes in red.


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## KyushuCalanthe (May 18, 2013)

tonyw said:


> Clearly my conditions suit them and most years they divide and produce two new bulbs so I am building up a nice colony.



Thanks for the information Tony. A colony of C. bulbosa sounds very nice indeed. Tough plant for many folks to grow, even v. occidentalis. I've got a friend on Vancouver Island that grows a bunch, but they are natives there.

You grow you terrestrials in an alpine house, or in the open?


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## tonyw (May 18, 2013)

All the orchis ophrys and calanthes frost free in the alpine house,the rest in a coldframe apart from dactylorhiza which are in the garden and self seed.


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## tonyw (May 21, 2013)

Cephalanthera longifolia a rhizomatous plant from coniferous forests in Europe


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## KyushuCalanthe (May 21, 2013)

tonyw said:


> Cephalanthera longifolia a rhizomatous plant from coniferous forests in Europe



How do you keep the fungal symbiont alive? I tried C. falcata here in Japan using Japanese red pine duff as an innoculant but eventually all the plants faded away after a few years.


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## tonyw (May 21, 2013)

I have never had a problem with this aspect of cultivation. When I repot I use a portion ofthe old compost and just add to it to bulk it up. I suppose any required fungus is retained within the compost.


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## tonyw (Jun 12, 2013)

A couple of very green ones ,not very showy

Listera ovata

Platanthera sparsiflora

and the final ophrys of the season

Ophrys apifera


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## SlipperFan (Jun 12, 2013)

Interesting little flowers!


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## KyushuCalanthe (Jun 13, 2013)

tonyw said:


> A couple of very green ones ,not very showy
> 
> Listera ovata
> 
> ...



Very cool, but isn't the second plant another Listera and not P. sparsiflora?


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