| Andrew |
02-04-2010 09:27 PM |
Here in southern Australia, Cymbidiums are by far the most popular orchid. Zygo's are (or at least were) often recommended as a good genus for Cym owners who wanted something different, as they need similar conditions to Cyms with the main cultural difference (lower light requirements) being seen as bonus to people who couldn't flower their Cyms due to too much shade. Around 10 years ago, you could actually find the occassional Zygo at the local gardencentres in amongst the Cyms.
Since then, two of the major Australian nurseries who were trying to promote Zygo's have disappeared and, while there are orchid nurseries still selling them, Zygo's have been firmly pushed back to being plants for the orchid grower. The recent push towards growing Australian natives, which has allowed Dendrobiums to make a much greater dent in our "gardencentre Cymbidium" market than Zygo's ever made, has probably removed any foothold for Zygo's to make a return any time soon. There is probably the potential for some type of Zygo representation in the pot plant market if someone made the effort to push their cause. However, when I see the average member of the Australian public looking at Australian Dendrobiums and saying "I've got that pink one, my sister has that yellow one" I do kind of wonder how many Zygo's the Australian pot plant market could have sustained. Even at orchid shows it seems like Cymbidiums and Dendrobiums are fighting for space with Zygopetalums being represented by a couple of token Zygo intermediums.
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