Sunday, July 29, 2012

Flamboyant Odontioda's in flower

Oda. Eric Young x Oda, Holiday Dream
Oda. Vision Point

Couple of my Odontioda (Oda)  orchids in flower at the moment, they are complex hybrids from the Oncidium alliance and they bloom with most spectacular free-flowing colorful flowers. They are native to Brazil and the Andes where they grow at high elevation. The flowers of these orchids are large and showy and they are very popular with many orchids growers.

They are not the easiest orchids to bring to flower and require a bit of understanding and dedication and the answer, as usual, is to try to replicate their native growing requirements - they love constant watering and high humidity with plenty of air movement and prefer plenty of shade, especially in our hot summers. At the same time it's a delicate balance not to overwater them, since they dislike water droplets in the leaf axis and can go backwards quite quickly.

They are always a challenge for someone like me and I love their exotic, delicate , rare, romantic blooms and looking forward this time of the year to see how they reveal their special beauty, their colors and flamboyant blooms.

8 comments:

  1. What a beautifull photos from beautifull orchids and amazing colors!!!
    Thanks for sharing.

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  2. What incredible flowers, especially the yellow and white. That is just simply stunning and good growing too. I know that they are not the easiest orchids. Used to grow them many years ago.,

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  3. They are so very lovely. What a fabulous job you've done in getting them to flower. I just adore the one at the top!

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  4. The first orchid is sweet, simple display of yellow and white.

    cheers.

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  5. So worth every demand that they make.

    Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

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  6. Maravilhosas, simplesmente lindas.
    abraços

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  7. Thank you to all for your kind comments and for allowing me to introduce to you these beauties. They do require a bit of work and dedication, but that's because they are out of their natural habitat - it's difficult to replicate high altitude, constant misting and quick drying and I move them around the greenhouse a lot to find just the right spot that they like. Still, when they start flowering at the end of our winter all of that is forgotten - just enjoyment and appreciation of these colors and textures on these flamboyant blooms.

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  8. These are wonderful and are a testament to your orchid growing skills!

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