OrchidSafari ARCHIVES*

1. PRE-DISCUSSION MAILOUT

2. TRANSCRIPT

PRE-DISCUSSION MAILOUT

Fragrant Orchids

Marilyn H.S. Light
Copyright 1999

Orchids appeal to us in so many different ways. They challenge the grower's art and provide visual inspiration. The varied perfumes of orchids can stir emotions, inducing a vivid recall of a past scene related to a particular fragrance. We first relate orchid fragrances to substances with which we are already familiar such as rose, hyacinth, jasmine or cinnamon. With more sampling experience and with a good nose, we begin to relate scents to particular orchids or groups of orchids. Our sense of smell is more strongly linked to emotion than any other of our senses. A scent memory can be linked to a visual image such as a pleasant social event, a visit to a friend's greenhouse or to an image of a particular flower. Once we smell a particular fragrance, the signal it invokes may be remembered for a very long time.

I grow many colorful orchids but the ones that appeal to me most are those with fragrance. The spicy fragrance of Encyclia radiata conjures up visions of summer's warmth even in the midst of winter. A delicate rose-scented Cattleya makes me smile with happy memories of the same plant blooming for the first time and capturing a 1st prize ribbon at a show. Everyone will have their favorite fragrances and memories that emerge in response to the scents.

Not all orchids are strongly scented and not all appeal equally. Some orchids have a musty or mushroomy smell that may appeal to pollinators but not to the human nose. To some persons, heavy fragrance or a particular scent can be overwhelming while to others the scent is not at all bothersome or even not detectable. The ability to detect fragrance has been shown to diminish as we age.

Fragrance intensity can vary with temperature, the time of day and with humidity. All these factors affect production and volatility of the fragrance components. Some orchids such as Epidendrum difforme are moderately fragrant throughout the day with a peak at night while others such as Epi. falcatum change fragrance quality and intensity as the day progresses from the delicate, haunting scent of jasmine in morning to a stronger note of Easter lilies or narcissus in the afternoon.

Orchid scent is associated with the reproductive process. Scented flowers attract specific pollinators. In cultivation, and with humans performing the pollinator role, we might easily skew the evolutionary process and produce less scented, differently scented or even unscented offspring after several generations of inbreeding. here is yet another aspect to be considered when maintaining species which might eventually be used to re-populate a natural habitat.

When building a collection of scented orchids, select plants suited to your growing conditions and with blooms that are fragrant when you are there to enjoy them. A most pleasant task awaits you. You can sniff, savor and enjoy many different orchid scents until you find the ones which appeal especially to you. The specific epithet sometimes promises what an orchid can deliver. The epithets ambrosia, aromatica, fragrans, and odorata imply fragrance in abundance. When you choose an orchid you really like, you will be more than willing to accept the challenge to grow it well. After all, the reward will be flowers and the marvellous fragrance.

Some fragrant orchids for a brightly lit windowsill or greenhouse

Spicy-scented Lycaste aromatica
Orange-scented Lycaste bradeorum
Resinous and citrus-scented Catasetum tenebrosum
Rose-scented Laeliocattleyas
Vanilla-scented Encyclia fragrans
Spicy-scented Encyclia trulla
Night-lily-scented Jacquiniella equitantifolia

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TRANSCRIPT

FRAGRANT ORCHIDS
Moderator: Marilyn Light
Wed 11 Aug 99

Present were:

JCY8S (John, Arcadia, CA)
Ellen,Smithtown,New York
Jade from G R (Grand Rapids MI)
bmtorchids (Barbara, northern CA)
poln8r (Robert, MS)
kbbarrett (Kathy in northern CA)
marilyninOttawa
AORCHID (art, simpsonville sc)
peeteilis (Tom, west KY)
apr9 (Abrao, So Paulo/Brazil)
birch10 (Paul, Saginaw,MI)
foxtail2 (Doug in Palm Harbor FL)
gaillevy (Boca Raton, FL)
joflo1 (Joanne - Owen Sound Ont)
prankster d (Susan from NE Oregon)
yoshiko2 (in Ann Arbor, MI)
cstarr1 (cstarr1)
Oz Kathy (From Sunny Queensland)
jim4eq (Jim,Miami FL)
Clare in LA (Los Angeles CA)
zeynep3 (Wilmington, NC)
graphicgreg (Greg, WPB FL)
Lanceps (Thamina, Manhattan Beach CA)

[We enter mid stream discussing Onc. Sharry Baby --KB]

Jade from G R (Going crazy sorting orchids!) One of my favorites is C. guatamalensis with its raspberry overtones. John, I find it Sharry Baby almost too sweet. I think that chocolate overscent is a bit much. Still better than some of those Bulbos.

JCY8S (John in Arcadia, CA)
Being a chocoholic probably helps me, Jade.

poln8r
And let's not forget Enc. cordigera. My var rosea really does smell like roses.

Jade from G R (Going crazy sorting orchids!)
Yes, it does smell like roses. A nice one.

birch10 (beautiful nite,Ssaginaw,Mi.)
What do you have to do to get a B. nodosa to bloom? Love the smell.

poln8r
Lotsa light, Birch10.

bmtorchids (Barbara, N. CA)
My B. nodosa blooming right now, it needs very high light and somewhat dry.

marilyninOttawa
B. nodosa is a sun and heat-loving plant. The terete (finger-like leaves with reduced surface area) foliage allows them considerable resistance during the dry season in their native habitat (tropical Americas). I would not grow them in full sun but in very bright light, up high in the greenhouse, behind a sheer curtain on a sunny windowsill or in the crotch of a seasonally deciduous tree in the tropics. These plants do especially well in baskets, which accommodates their somewhat sprawling habit as well as permitting their flowers to drape gracefully all round. Grow these plants intermediate to warm and let them dry out between waterings.

kbbarrett (kathy in n calif)

Have you all seen this? It's a rather full list of fragrant orchid species!

Jade from G R (Going crazy sorting orchids!)
I have B. perrinii but haven't bloomed it yet.

Oz Kathy (From Sunny Queensland)
Hi peeteilis, kingianum grows cool and shady, dry in winter can go down to o% but out of frost. Types crossed with the warm growing Den. biggibum are Tropicools requiring more warmth, hope this helps.

kbbarrett (kathy in n calif)
Tom, I think the key to kingianum is the cool dry winter rest. Here in Calif the winters get cold enough, but it rains a lot, so I've been told to keep them outdoors, but under the eaves or some place out of the rain. Then in spring they'll bloom for you. I haven't heard much other than the usual bark mix for potting. Anyone else have any ideas for me and Tom about Den kingianums???

joflo1
Kathy - my kingianum finally bloomed after I let it sit on a north windowsill all winter.

marilyninOttawa
I grow my kingies in the garden in full sun during the summer when they are watered and fed heavily to produce many canes. Now the canes are maturing and soon as the nights become frosty, I will move the plants under the eaves where they will get no rain but still get sun and be sheltered from direct frost. Being close to the house protects them from all but a killing frost (about 25F or -5C). The secret is keeping the plants dry when it is cold. I try to leave the plants outdoors as long as I can. Indoors, the plants are moved to an equally bright location, behind a sheer curtain, and not watered until flower spikes appear. Properly conditioned plants will not shrivel and do not require misting/watering until blooming commences.

JCY8S (John in Arcadia, CA)
Kathy - I have mine outdoors under a tree and it gets watered by the lawn sprinklers all year long!! It is putting out an enormous amount of new growths right now. If it blooms well it will be covered all over with flowers - hundreds!!

Oz Kathy (From Sunny Queensland)
I have a lovely Den. Elegant Heart, out a pure yellow with very big flowers and the perfume is very subtle, will be a beaut. When it gets bigger.

bmtorchids (Barbara, N. CA)
Are there any fragrant Paphs?

JCY8S (John in Arcadia, CA)
Barbara - I have been told that Paph. druryi can be fragrant but I don't think mine was. marilyninOttawa
Paph malipoense and hybrids are fragrant of raspberries!

jim4eq
Barbara - moquettianum is fragrant.

kbbarrett (kathy in n calif)
Jim, what's moquettanum smell like?

jim4eq (miami)
Supposedly like raspberries/fruity. Mine hasn't bloomed yet, but remember fragrance being there at last show.

kbbarrett (kathy in n calif)
John. That's interesting about the constant water... Barbara kinda did the same thing... forgot about a kingi and left it out mid freeze one year. When it came back had tons of new growth and blooms. Oz Kathy, I've been keeping mine too bright then, if you say shady conditions. I'll try moving it! Thanks!!

Oz Kathy (From Sunny Queensland)
Kingianums can also be grown on trees and rocks, they don't need a very deep mix, a bit of spaghnum behind the roots will do.

Jade from G R (Going crazy sorting orchids!)
Susan, do you use you sheep's droppings to make manure tea? When I had bunnies and made tea from bunny berries my orchids seem to have a stronger scent.

prankster d (Susan from NE Oregon)
Jade, I haven't tried manure tea. But I top-dress some of my plants with sheep droppings, with good results. I'll try the tea sometime. (On my plants. Not in my teapot).

marilyninOttawa
There is probably some basis for having more fragrance after having fertilized plants. Orchids use resources to make fragrance components. If they have more resources available potentially they could pump out a bit more fragrance.

JCY8S (John in Arcadia, CA)
Kathy - we had a freeze here last winter for the first time in many years. It got down to 24 for 4 nights in a row and I only had about 3 leaves on the kingianum that showed any damage. It is growing despite not having been repotted for years - I doubt there is any mix left in fact.

prankster d (Susan from NE Oregon)
I grow Den. kingianum in a shallow bonzai-type pot. Looks pretty even when not blooming.

Oz Kathy (From Sunny Queensland)
John. I don't think having no mix will make any diff. as they are very hardy, and you couldn't kill them if you tried ( under normal conditions).

peeteilis (saharawestky)
Evidently kingianum will grow almost anywhere, in almost anything, if it is grown a bit dry, under a lawn sprinkler, cool, down onto the low thirties, and out under a tree with whatever light gets through. Thanks guys. *G*

prankster d (Susan from NE Oregon)
ment includes an attractive lava rock jutting moundlike above the level of the media. Plants with roots in the media are growing upward onto the rock. I put a bit of moss around the rock to cushion and encourage the roots a bit.

JCY8S (John in Arcadia, CA)
Thanks, Oz Kathy - I was going to repot but it is doing so well I didn't. I think that the plant must have at least 100 new growths or more.

kbbarrett (kathy in n calif)
Tom, we must be treating our kingi's too nice!

peeteilis (saharawestky)
K in Cal, Like my dend nobies, I just can't bring myself to treat a plant like that!

kbbarrett (kathy in n calif)
Agreed! I have trouble with Den aggregatum for the same reason!

bmtorchids (Barbara, N. CA)
Tom, that's another one have to keep it outside by Oct.

marilyninOttawa
Den nobile and hybrids can be very pleasantly fragrant. One of my favorites is Den Yukidurama 'King', a white with dark blotched lip whose scent is divine.

graphicgreg (growin n showin)
Hey Marilyn, here's our SoFla Den. kingianum story; got one 'bout ten years ago. Grew to be a pretty good-sized plant in a 4" pot. Only saw a few flowers one year. We would hang it outside in the full sun of a keylime tree all winter where it was completely neglected, no water, as cool temps as we could give it, no or little water. Just too warm here I guess - we gave it away.

JCY8S (John in Arcadia, CA)
Greg - how about putting it in the Fridge at night for a few weeks? (nothing is too good for an orchidist!!)

graphicgreg (growin n showin)
John, I did even try that one year. But after forgetting to take it out one day I gave up on that idea.

JCY8S (John in Arcadia, CA)
It was a thought, Greg. I never thought anyone would try that!!

Clare in LA (Near JCY8S)
I for one love the Lycaste aromatica. Heavenly cinnamon. Now my Brassia verrucosa is entirely a different matter. Smells worse than that titan lily, John.

marilyninOttawa
I like my plant of Lyc. bradeorum whose flowers smell like oranges. Exquisite!

Clare in LA (Near JCY8S)
Marylyn, that sounds wonderful. Oranges. Yum

Jade from G R (Going crazy sorting orchids!)
Marilyn, Is that a lycaste? How big does it normally grow?
(Lyc. is the accepted abbreviation for Lycaste. The plants grow to about one foot tall, pseudobulbs are about 2 inches tall. ML)

Clare in LA (Near JCY8S)
Did you already discuss what triggers the fragrance, thinking about how my cut catts lose their fragrance?

Jade from G R (Going crazy sorting orchids!)
Clare, did you notice that in any other type of orchid when it was cut?

Clare in LA (Near JCY8S)
Not really, Jade, in that only the catts get cut. Now my cyms never have a scent.

marilyninOttawa
Good question, Clare. Orchid fragrance is usually produced by glands located somewhere in the flower. Once scent is released, more must be produced. Once a flower is cut, presumably there are few resources left to keep fragrance production for any prolonged period. It is also possible that substances released by tissues damaged during the cutting cause the fragrance compounds to degrade or the production process to end.

Clare in LA (Near JCY8S)
Would you say the denser the habitat the stronger the fragrance?

Jade from G R
Marilyn, it would be an interesting study to find out it plants utilize more N if they are fragrant. There must be a chemical basis to fragrance that can be related to how they are nourished.

marilyninOttawa
Good point, Jade.

marilyninOttawa
Thank you everyone for the stimulating discussion. I look forward to next month's session when we will be discussing Mentoring new growers. Until then. Good night!

JCY8S (John in Arcadia, CA)
Night, Marilyn. Thanks for leading a very good discussion even if we did wander at times!!

Jade from G R
Night, Marilyn, thanks for the good discussion. You are always a welcome voice.

marilyninOttawa
Good night everyone. Thank you for the great comments and discussion.

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