Odontocidium Everglades ‘Nancy Lee’

[ArronOB]

A board member who grows in a climate similar to mine asked me to show some of the orchids that do really well when grown outside here. I grow most of my orchids in a semi-open shadehouse, with a few in baskets on trees.

My regime for growing orchids has been one of monstrous neglect as I have been busy for the last 3 years building our house. Now that’s finished I have spent this summer pruning down the collection to those that prosper in our conditions and weeding out those that struggle. I have also watered and fertilised regularly and the plants have responded. Any orchid in my collection, therefore is a very hardy plant indeed. The orchids I’m going to post as they flower this autumn are going to be ones that (in our environment) are able to survive long periods of neglect, are seldom troubled by pests, have no special care requirements, and most importantly start to flower early in their life cycle and flower every year.

I grow mainly hybrids from the Oncidium and Cattleya alliances. I don’t grow very many species orchids.

So this is Odontocidium Everglades ‘Nancy Lee’. Interesting complex-looking flowers even if not exactly pretty. Note the unmarked green foliage - I never use any type of chemical or spray or manually remove pests - they just don’t seem to recognise it as food.