Sarcochilus orchids

These little beauties native to Australia and New Caledonia and really like hot, humid weather. They have short steams, only a few leaves and plenty of flowers on short inflorescences. There are currently about 15 species and all of them doing really well on our hot summer with colours of white, pinks, yellow and red. There are also many hybrids currently been developed by Australian breeders. 

They don’t like full sun or direct sunlight and prefer hot, humid position with good air movement. In nature most of them grow in the rocks and form clumps, showing masses of tiny, beautifully formed blooms. All of my sarcochilus orchids grow outside in the shade, exposed to all elements and being Australian native’s they don’t need any special care,  just occasional shower or watering. 

In cooler climate they can grow in the windowsill and would appreciate frequent misting to increase humidity. They are beautiful, easy orchids to grow that reward with masses of special blooms.

Docktrillia orchids - known as “pencil orchids”

My doctrillia’s orchids flowering now, they are fascinating species native to eastern Australia, New Guinea, New Caledonia and Vanuatu. They grow in in rain forests in the situations where they can get bright light and high humidity.

They have long, pendulous leaves and thin stems and very popular in cultivation because they very easy to grow, displaying masses of beautifully sculptured perfumed flowers. There are about 30 species in this genus with 18 of them found in Australia, with plenty of colour variations to suit any taste.

They are very easy to grow and once established not fussy, flowering almost continually from our early spring until late summer. Mine are growing outside exposed to all elements.

Dendrobium x suffusum

Dendrobium suffusum

This little Australian native orchid currently flowering - it’s dendrobium x suffusum, natural hybrid between dendrobium kingianum and dendrobium gracilicaule. It’s a medium size plant with many small flowers and very sweet scent.

Being native orchid, it happily flowers year after year without any special requirements - it likes plenty of light, plenty of moisture during spring and autumn and a bit dryer in summer.
The color of the flowers ranges from white through various shades of pink and I have seen dark, deep mauve color of this orchid as well.

 Because if it’s adaptability, this specie can be grown in a wide range of situations always rewarding with many beautiful blooms.

Dendrobium Orchid "Starfish"

All of my dendrobium orchids finished their blooming season and the last one was beautiful "Starfish". I've had this orchid for quite a few years and always love when it flowers with masses of special, fragrant blooms.

Being Australian Native, it's very easy to look after, I grow it under the shade of the trees exposed to all elements during it's growing cycle, it does not need any special treatment, just less watering during our winter months - other than that it tolerates all seasonal changes quite well. It's a beautiful orchid that delights novice as well as experienced orchid grower year after year with it's scented, unusual flowers.

Dendrobium bigibbum in flower

One of my dendrobiums currently flowering, another name for this orchid is Cooktown orchid and its Queensland's state floral emblem. It's native to northeastern Australia and PNG and many variations of color and form exists for this specie - from pure pristine white to dark purple this orchid delights with abundance of blooms during it's flowering season.

My Cooktown orchid white with many purple stripes at the end of the petals and always flowers at about this time of the year. These orchids are easy to grow for the beginner, not fussy, they like plenty of light and reduced watering in winter. The blooms are long - lasting and new flower spikes are forming during it's growing season giving recurring wonderful display of perfect, beautifully formed blooms.

Rhizanthella slateri - rare underground orchid

This very unusual and very rare eastern orchid lives under the ground as rhizomes. When it wants to flower, it comes up to the surface and breaks the surface but is still under the leaf litter, and that's where it flowers.

Eastern underground orchids have been spotted at just a handful of sites in NSW and southern QLD, but scientists think there may be more undiscovered colonies of this rare and unusual prehistoric orchid. Through painstaking field work about a dozen of this endangered orchids were identified - but the exact locations were kept secret from the public.

Scientists are celebrating saving of this unusual orchid from the blades of a bulldozers on the NSW central coast earlier this year and their protection from a new highway project, north of Newcastle. They collected the plants for seed and transported them 430 km south to Canberra, but never expected them to survive and to flower. But they have - sending up several red-brown heads of flowers about the size of 20 cent piece - living scientists, and all orchid enthusiasts hopeful for the future of the species. They are planning to introduce this orchid back into the wild and ensure the long-term survival of this rare plant.

There was also extensive negotiations with RTA ( Roads and Traffic Authority) and the route of the highway was altered to avoid the known colonies of rhizanthella slateri, while other native plants were salvaged from the bulldozers.

So, here it is - extremely rare underground orchid saved for future generations to admire and to study and preserve and cherish and the motorists using soon-to-be-completed highway bypass North of Newcastle will notice strange bends in the highway - they actually tweaked the highway... it's got slight kink in it, because the orchid's there.

My smallest orchid

This tiny Australian native dendrobium orchid is the smallest orchid in my collection. Its just started flowering couple of days ago and the flowers are pale cream color with quite a strong sweet scent.

I've mounted it among my other australian native orchids on the fern slab since its more practical for it to grow this way than in any type of container. In its natural habitat it grows on branches of trees in our native forests. Like all dendrobiums it holds moisture reserve in its bulbs. Its easy to grow since its requirements are very basic - a bit of light, a bit of moisture and good air circulation.

This orchid been with me quite a few years now and every year in summer it develops another tiny bulb and then sends flowering spike. Another example of the diversity of these beautiful magical plants.