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.