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WBS WED 23 JUN 97
Shortly after moving to the Big Island of Hawaii in September of 1978, circumstances (lost job, divorce, etc.) led me to rent a place located in the Hawaiian Acres subdivision near Mountainview. With many orchids, ranging from com-pot seedlings to full grown, and no place to grow them, I decided to put them out in the forest which was on the property. The forest, a pocket of old-growth Ohi'a, lies at about 1200 feet elevation in an area which gets an average of about 100 inches of rain a year, usually spread out fairly evenly, and in a temperature zone best described as intermediate, though nights occasionally get down into the 40's in winter.
Day temperatures range in the 80's both summer and winter. As it turned out, literally a paradise for naturalizing many of the orchids I had at the time. The attached map will give you a rough idea of the location of each of the plants discussed, as well as the orientation from which the slides were taken. On to the pictures:
First is Eria spicata, often seen as E. convollarioides (or "like lily-of-the-valley") and commonly called the Lily of the Valley orchid. It was one of the first orchids I planted out (as a 3-bulb division) after moving onto this place in late '79:
Eria spicata; close-up of flower spikes.
Eria spicata; plant in flower, October, 1982. Eria spicata; plant size in April, 1993. Imagine what this would look like in bloom! It's about 6 feet from top to bottom of the plant.
Next up are some pix which will give a general idea of the forested nature of the area: Landscape 1. Some large Ohi'a trees in the background, with anthuriums, ferns, hapu'u tree ferns, and a couple of orchids, shown clearer in -
Landscape 2. The orchid at left center (not in bloom) is Maxillaria camaridii, one of the "one-day wonders" of the family, taken in March, 1986, these slides also show -
Blc. Ojai 'Verte', HCC/AOS; this is an older, but still nice, yellowish green Brassolaeliocattleya, easy to grow and flower.
One of my favorites, planted out in '79 at the base of a large Ohi'a and nestled in among mosses, is:
Cirrhopetalum ornatissimum. Taken in September, 1980, this slide has unfortunately lost some of the definition it once had, so the striping in the dorsal sepal and petals and the very fine cilia on their ends doesn't show clearly, nor the spotting on the ventral sepals. The lip, colored a vivid purple, is hinged and often traps flies unfortunate enough to land on it. This one has no odor, though many in this group (and some of the closely allied Bulbophyllum's) have very unpleasant odors.
About 10 feet directly behind the large Hapu'u shown in the first slide is:
Paphiopedilum at T&L's. I think this is Paph. Maudiae, though it could also be Paph. Edgard van Belle. It was planted out in '80, I think. It survived a 3 month drought, followed by a fire which burned to within 40 feet, both in '84. This was taken in April, 1993. It flowers consistently year after year, I'm told, lasting several months.
Close by, on the path that leads to the house, is:
Maxillaria species on Hapuu. I think this is Max. variabilis, though I never had it formally identified. This was taken in January, 1983: it is considerably larger now and flowers frequently throughout the year. As I recall, it has a faint, citrus-like fragrance.
On the property next door, which belonged to the brother of one of the owners of the property I was on, were:
Pleurothallis species. I don't know which species this is, but it is a cutie! The plant stands about 2" tall. The flowers are of an incredible crystalline texture and sparkle in the light. It's planted on a very large Ohi'a amidst some mosses growing on the trunk. Taken in November, 1983.
and -
Coelogyne species. Again, I don't know which species this is. This picture was taken at the 1980 Hilo Orchid Society Show at the Orchidarium in Hilo before I planted it out in the forest in a locale similar to that shown in the first slide. It has grown into quite a large specimen and blooms every year in late July. The lip is actually a vibrant orangy-brown, almost fluorescent.
Coming back to the property I lived on, here are pictures of other plants which were planted out, though these are of the plants while still in pots:
Blc. Meditation 'Queen's Dowry'; a very fine white Brasso which was mericloned by Milton Warne and which did quite well as a naturalized plant.
Odontonia Waiomao 'Lescar'. Another mericlone, from Pat Kawamoto's.
Sophrolaeliocattleya Jewel Box 'Scheherazade', AM/AOS, well known for its ease of growth and prolific flowering, this plant does as well naturalized as it does in a pot.
Finally, to set the stage for the second installment of this discussion, is a slide taken at my ex-wife's place, also located in Hawaiian Acres but in an area of much smaller trees, located about 2 miles (as the A'ala flies) from the above properties:
Epidendrums In Yard. These are probably Epi. radicans. Taken in January, 1986, they did well for several more years, then died off for some reason. Other orchids planted out on this property are still doing well though, as will be shown in Installment 2.
Admittedly, not everyone is located in such an ideal spot. However, given the diversity in the orchids, many people, with a decidedly experimental bent, could naturalize them. The keys are to identify the conditions in the area where you wish to do this, identify those orchids which grow in similar conditions, then *try it*. You may lose some, and may have to experiment with changing the location of individual plants (even a 2 foot movement of the plant can have profound consequences in growth; see W.W.G. Moir's discussions on microclimates, at least a few of which are in some of the older editions of the AOS Bulletin), but the results can be worth it.
Special thanks to Peter Lin, who did much of the scanning of these images, and to Lois Greer, who pushed me into doing this, then helped out tremendously by editing many of the graphics and doing much of the drudge work.
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