Rhyncholaelia digbyana displaying its finest fimbriation on a hot and humid evening in July
Perhaps more suited to this hot and humid, near 100 percent humidity weather than I, the cattleya relative Rhyncholaelia digbyana also surprises us with the fact that it also can handle the near freezing temperatures that the glass house presents it with in January. It’s home, is on a slab of tree fern bark, hung against the trunk of a large Acacia dealbata tree near the back of the glass house, where it occaisionally gets a splash of water and maybe fertilzer, when I think of it. I don;t tend to fuss with orchids, so those that do well, do well, and those that wish to die, never come back./
I did go through an orchid collecting phase, but found it difficult to join our local orchid society in Massachusetts couldn’t find thier websiote, they no longer cooperate with our local botanical garden, something over a squable or something, and so, I moved on. No need for that I say…We raise dogs, and it is well known that the only ones crazier than Dog Breeders are orchid growers, so I moved on for now.
I do collect many Japanese orchids, neofinetia and Dendrobium moniliforme, as well as many cultivars of Chinese cymbidiums, but these are not generally respected as much as showier (I have tried to strike up conversation with local members at shows here at the Tower Hill Botanic Garden about how I could join the ORchid Society, but they didn;t seem that interested in helping me with even where I might get a membership, or lead me to thier website,so I joined the National groups, the AOS, but have since dropped out since I have foudn them strangely unfriendly to newbies. So unfortunate since most plant groups are starving for younger collectors to join and become active, I must assume that the Orchid Society is doing quite well! I have found the British groups such as the RHS muchmore cooperative both with accepting manuscripts and with encouragement.
_Off Soapbox_ and back to the greenhouse!
