Ophrys ariadne

[Roberta]

Spring is just around the corner... Here is the first of my Mediterranean terrestrials to bloom. This is one of the "bee orchids". A fuzzy little bug, irresistible to young male bees... the females are still sleeping but this looks like one (and to a bee, smells like one.)

It's going to be a good year for these, I'll be posting photos over the next couple of months as the various plants bloom.

For all of them, they are kept completely dry until around mid-October when nights become cooler. Then I water lightly until the little green shots emerge, when I increase the watering. The medium is about 80% pumice, the balance a mix of bark and cactus-mix potting soil. I use pumice rather than perlite for the inorganic portion for the weight - when pots are dry, they are very light. With perlite, they would blow over even in light wind. Since I live in a Mediterranean climate , the weather pattern is nearly perfect - hot dry summers (essentially no rain from March to October), cool fall and winter, with some rain. However, even winter rain isn't very reliable, so "rain" comes from a hose when Mother Nature doesn't provide.

Five areas in the world with a Mediterranean climate: the Mediterranean (of course), the Cape of South Africa, the central coast of Chile, the coast of California USA, and southern/southwest Australia. For whatever the reason, most of the orchids in regions with this climate pattern seem to have evolved in the Old World - Europe/North Africa, southern Africa, and Australia.