Ansellia africana care questions

[katsucats]

Not tough as nails in my experience, but not fragile. I live in zone 10a, a bit colder than where Roberta is. I left two Ans. africana out last winter. I feel like the rain set them back a bit, some leaves dropped and stems yellowed. The smaller one I got from Cal-Orchids developed black fungal spots from being cold and wet. The larger one was from SVO, started out the same size as the other, but I had left it indoors by a bathroom window for the previous summer where it tripled in size. After the winter rains, that one bounced back by this summer, though the other smaller one is still sulking. So maybe it survives better if it's more mature. Lowest temperature was 35-37.

[Roberta]

I think it was the "wet" part rather than just cold. I didn't get the "performance" from them that I usually do. I heard a talk by Lourens Grobler of Afri Orchids of South Africa last spring (after all the rain when mine got soaked) and he stated that they should be quite dry in winter. It's more humid where he lives than southern California, so I have learned the hard way that "dry" needs to be moderated where I live. But if we get another very wet winter (complements of El Niño) I'll be tucking mine under the eaves. So far, no sign of it.