Hello from beginner in South-Western Australia

[Rhizelle]

Hi everyone,

I'm 27 and live several hours south of Perth in Western Australia. Last year I acquired an orchid collection from a friend and they seem to have settled in nicely under my east facing verandah. Nearly the whole lot have suddenly come into bud and it is so exciting to get up every morning to see what has opened. I have spent this weekend moving them around the garden to get maximum winter sun - we'll see how long that level of fussing lasts but it could be a while!

I have a number of Dendrobium hybrids, some Cymbidiums, a Phal and some unnamed types which look like to my amateur eye like Coelogynes and Vandas (think I will have to wait until they flower to find out).

My avatar is a white bunny orchid (Eriochilus sp.) found in a patch of forest down the road. One only wishes it was possible to cultivate these and the other amazing terrestrial species.

I'm really enjoying looking at other member's setups and collections on this board, looks like a fantastic place

[billc]

Hello, and WELCOME! Love your avatar. If you can, how about a picture of the entire plant?

Bill

[RosieC]

Welcome to Orchid Board

This is a great place to look at pics of other people's collections. I seem to spend loads of time doing that.

[Rhizelle]

Hello, and thank you.

Here is a bigger pic. It does always make me smile!

[Andrew]

Welcome Rhizelle.
I have no experience with the Western Australian Eriochilus species but Eriochilus cucullatus from the eastern states isn't that hard to grow. If you're interested in trying to grow your local orchids try contacting ANOS WA, SOSWA or WANOSCG. They should be able to put you in contact with local terrestrial orchid growers and point you towards legal sources of these orchids.

[camille1585]

Rhizelle!
I love the bunny orchid! I am just as crazy about the terrestrial orchids as the tropical ones, so I love seeing what grows in other countries. It's certainly a very elegant looking orchid! How tall is it?

If you have pictures of your unnamed orchids, I'm sure that there are people here that could as least give you a genus name for them.

[kinknstein]

Welcome to the board!

[Rhizelle]

Thank you for the welcomes.

Andrew, thanks, I will be very interested to see how people have managed to grow the native terrestrial species, though I am sure it is well beyond my skill level!

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by Rhizelle

Andrew, thanks, I will be very interested to see how people have managed to grow the native terrestrial species, though I am sure it is well beyond my skill level!

The skills needed to grow tuberous terrestrial orchids are quite different to those needed to grow epiphytes. If you are at all interested in growing your indigenous species, give them a try before you pick up too many bad "epiphyte growing" habits. If you can speak to local growers about how they grow their plants and start out with the easier species, you should be fine.