Which orchids can I grow outside year-round in Tampa, FL?

[Tim C.]

Sorry for the long wait on the response, Nokomis. I have indeed made the trip down here, and all is well. I have yet to start a collection, but have been checking out SBOE as they have a larger collection of temperature tolerant orchids now.

I purchased a baker's rack yesterday to put on our lanai for growing orchids on, and am already feeling the fever hit me. I visited a relative in Ft. Myers, and she grows everything outside, so I hold out a little hope I'll be able to find some plants to grow outside still.

-Tim C.

[Nokomis.FL]

Fort Myers is a different world and I wouldn't compare it to New Tampa. You could probably get away with leaving the plants out 12 months there while you'll have to bring yours in 3 or 4 times in the winter.

[gsytch]

I live in New Port Richey and have for years...of course, this past winter was something else, but I grow everything in my yard all 12 months of the year. What I do is either place sensitive orchids on the ground and cover with frost cloth OR move indoors for the few days it is cold. Even this year, other than the freezes in the first half of Jan, my orchids were outdoors without protection except for moving those few sensitive ones a few times. My catts were explosive in bloom!@ They were gorgeous! My dendrobiums suffered, but my Phals were good because I protected them a few nbights. Epis did well and always do. Go to an orchid meeting in Tampa and you will see what does well here. California is a different world...

[got ants]

I'm in Hollywood and starting to freak out. I have two tall coconut palms in my backyard, that give me most of the shade in my backyard. well, it looks like they are both dying from this winters past freezes. One palm was hurricane cut leaving 5 fronds, three of which are turning brown. the other palm had almost 10 leaves still on, but now it looks like the crown (top) leaf dropped.

I have vanillas growing on the trunks, and other plants in the bamboo pergola in between the palms, that will need to find a new home, and my other pergola is already packed.

If you are just starting out, I highly recommend a shade structure that can easily be wrapped in plastic for those few cold nights. The cold is not the biggest issue, as is the summers brutal sun.

[epiphyte78]

These are the native epiphytes whose distribution range includes Tampa...

• Encyclia tampensis - almost to Jacksonville on the East Coast but not as far north on the West Coast
  
• Epidendrum conopseum - Tampa is the southernmost distribution on the West Coast...goes all the way to North Carolina on the East Coast
  
• Harrisella porrecta - Spring Hill on the West Coast and not quite as far as Port Orange on the East Coast

Here's an interesting passage from "The Orchidaceae of The Bahama Archipelago - Taxonomy, Ecology and Biogeographic Patterns"....

"The Isles of June epithet, referred to earlier, was severely strained, when in the early morning hours of 19 January 1977, seven years after the last entry in Tables II and III, light snow fell on the islands of Grand Bahama, Great Abaco and New Providence as well as in southern Florida. In addition, frost formed in localized depressions on these islands and on Andros. This was the first time in recorded meteorological history that such a phenomenon had occurred. We visited these islands approximately one month after this extraordinary event in order to assess its effect on the tropical flora. We could find none. We feel this attests to the surprisingly eurythermal resiliency of the Bahamian flora and it might suggest that the remnants of cold-tolerance still exist in the populations from the Wisconsin glaciation."

Eurythermal = Tolerating a wide range of temperatures

Personally, I would definitely grow the three native epiphytes that I listed and then give some of the other natives a try...Ionopsis utricularioides, Cyrtopodium punctatum, Tolumnia bahamensis and Tetramicra canaliculata.

Looking outside of Florida...Tampa is at around 28 degrees latitude. In South America there are at least 125 orchids that occur at or above 29 degrees latitude. Some of the relatively common ones are...

Bifrenaria harrisoniae
Brassavola tuberculata
Cattleya intermedia
Gomesa crispa
Huntleya meleagris
Isabelia pulchella
Isochilus linearis
Leptotes bicolor
Maxillaria picta
Miltonia regnellii
Octomeria juncifolia
Oncidium bifolium
Oncidium crispum
Oncidium flexuosum
Oncidium longipes
Ornithophora radicans
Polystachya concreta
Prosthechea vespa
Rodriguezia decora
Sophronitis purpurata
Specklinia grobyi
Stanhopea insignis
Trichocentrum pumilum

In my opinion, the large disparity between the quantity of epiphytic orchids at the same latitude primarily reflects how effectively the Gulf of Mexico has limited the spread of orchids from Mexico and Central/South America to Florida. It might also reflect to some degree that at the same latitudes Florida experiences somewhat colder temperatures compared to South America. It's hard to say for sure because the weather records don't go as far back for South America as they do for Florida.

Some of the South American orchids have relatively large distribution ranges and honestly, I'm not too sure how much cold tolerance variation there is within a species. On the other hand, Miltonia flavescens doesn't occur as far south as the ones I listed but here's a photo of it covered in snow.

Northern India, Burma, Thailand, China, etc are all good places to look as well...here's a photo that my friend in Italy took of his Vanda coerulea covered in snow...



Most of the cold damaged orchids that I've seen photos of were growing in pots. It could just be that more people grow orchids in pots...but I'm liking the theory that eurythermal orchids mounted with little or no moss can handle the cold better than if they were in pots.

If you do try a eurythermal orchid and it kicks the bucket during winter (even though it was mounted without any moss)...don't come looking to me for a refund Instead, blame the people in the orchid industry who have been selecting orchids based purely on superficial characteristics for a really long time.

[CTB]

Hey Florida guys, join me in a social group that just started, , Florida Orchid Lovers, this is exactly the kind of thing we are discussing.

[kdennis14]

Hello,
You are in Springhill, and I am in Inverness. I am new to the forum and Orchids. I am addicted already. It is like having a baby!!. I cannot see and check on them enough. I had them inside, however they were not really happy. I now have them outside on my Lanai, under a big umbrella. Anything I need to know about having them there?
Thank you so much,
ps.... They are all Phals.
Kdennis