Bletilla Striata
 

A terrestial that is native to Japan and China and is hardy from zones 5 to 10. Everyone that has a garden should grow some of these. They are very undemanding and bloom regularly every spring.

Love it! :love:
I am hoping to grow some of these this year outside :biggrin:

Mine have a tendency to come up early if our winter starts late like this year. They came up 4 weeks ago only to be frost nipped by last week's cold snap despite my protective efforts. They will survive, but the flower buds that like to come up with the new growth will not.

I have been thinking of getting some of these!
do they need a lot of water?

I love these!!!!! I have a small clump at home. It's a fantastic plant because it is just as tropical looking as the truly tropical orchids, but it breezes through our winters AND the DEER DON'T EAT IT!!!!! It didn't bloom last year though. I'm thinking it's because I transplanted it the year before. It did grow two more shoots though, so hopefully this year I'll have blooms! If not I'll try it in a different spot and maybe add more organic matter than I did last time.

I watered mine when I thought about it. I tried to give it a deep soak every one or two weeks when it got really hot. My soil is very heavy though, and the Northwest has relatively mild summers, so watering would very depending on conditions. But I don't think it is a very heavy drinker.

Evan - there is a book out I want to purchase by Dr. Wiiliam Mathis from the Wild Orchid Company called The Gardener’s Guide to Hardy Perennial Orchids. Check it out - The Gardener’s Guide to Hardy Perennial Orchids
Dr Mathis tells you what to do to create optimal growing conditions for these wild beauties.
Hardy terrestrial orchids for perennial gardens
I recently wrote them asking for the dates and places Dr Mathis will be lecturing .. I'd love to go to one of his seminars :)

Greenbean, DEER DON'T EAT IT ! I may have to get some of these. The deer where I live think I'm their salad bar provider. The only plants I can grow unprotected are boxwood and daffodils. Everything else is chewed to bare wood by the end of winter. One of my neighbors is thinking of trying to get hosta listed as an endangered species.:rofl:

Bill

Dorothy you were missed. Your knowledge is very valuable to this forum.

White Rabbit, my plants are planted in a loose compost mix. I add a little bone meal after flowering. Because they grow from a bulb (rhizome) they are fairly drought tolerant. If we don't have rain, I water once per week. During the winter, they are dormant and require no care.

Tiki George, my plants begin growth very early also. It's probably because we live in the southern latitude. In your situation, to prevent freeze damage, I would cover them with straw and turn a large garbage can over them. It works quite well.

Thank you Jerry :blowkisses:
It's good to be home ;)

I know!! At my house they even try to eat boxwood! They just nibble and pull at it though. I can grow daffodils, yuccas, barberry (I love these because I've watched the deer try to eat the soft leaves only to jerk their heads back after getting their tongues pierced!:rofl::evil:), irises, rhodies, and a few others I've found in my short 19 years that deer don't like. Just keep in mind that I've got blacktails and you probably have whitetails. And even within one species of deer in one area, different deer have different tastes that very from season to season and year to year. I grew gladiolus for 2 or 3 years. The deer never gave them a second look. Suddenly, they decide glad flowers are delicious. I got rid of almost all my glads because it just hurt to see mangled flower stalks every year:(. One thing that seems to be universally inedible to deer are ornamental grasses, and there's so much variety that there's something for everyone. Pfff! The only hosta I've even bothered trying to grow is Pandora's Box. This beautiful little 2-3 inch dwarf stays on my deck out of reach!!

Bletilla is sooooo worth the risk though. Try it!!! That's the only way to find out what you can and can't grow!

Dorothy! Thanks for the book reference!!:bowing I joined right before you disappeared and am only now coming to appreciate and enjoy firsthand the wonderful Mod I've heard so much about!:biggrin:

Mom! Dad! Guess what I want for my birthday!!!....:muahaha:

My Bletillas are reliable bloomers as long as I keep them dry over the winter. In the summer they seem to like heavy water.

Aw Gee :blushing:
Thank you Evan :)

When is the best time to divide my Bletilla striata?
 

Hello,

I do love this plant. I've had it in a pot in regular soil outside for about 5 years now, and it's never failed to do it's thing each season. Another reason it's special to me is that it was one of my very first orchids, given to me by my old friend Harry Phillips, straight out of his beautiful back yard.

My question: When is the best time to divide the bulbs? Right now, the new shoots are just popping up out of the ground. Should I wait until the end of the growing season after the plants die back, or should I jump on it now?

PleuroPal,
I am confident that you would be successful in dividing your plant now or after blooming. There might be a drawback to dividing now and that is the potential to loose flowers so if I were you I would wait until after they bloom. You could also wait until dormant because they are frequently sold as dried off bulbs such as tulips during the fall and winter months at garden centers.

I gave a friend a division of my plant during the latter part of last winter. His plant did not bloom last year but currently has three spikes on it.

Thanks Jerry! I think I'll wait until they go dormant. I just spoke to Harry and that's what he recommended as well.

This is about the most trouble-free terrestrial I have growing. I bought a couple of plants 2 years ago not really knowing anything about them. They were sent to me bare rooted in active growth so I was a bit disappointed to see them whither and "die" a few months after I potted them. I realised some time after that they were deciduous when they shot up again and gave me an impressive display of colour. I recently got around to repotting them and to my surprise found that each of the plants had grown from a single bulb to 7 or 8 each with another 4 to 5 active shoots pushing out. Pretty good considering I just left them thinking they were dead!

Luckily I don't get deer near my place... wish I could say the same for aphids and caterpillars.

Hey Pat,

Jerry's right, wait until after flowering to divide. You can lift them easily when dormant, but you can divide them with a shovel anytime after spring.

These guys do appreciate some extra spring water and fert, but they're remarkably drought tolerant through the summer. A few cool factoids: Bletilla seed capsules split along 6 seams, unlike the 3 for "normal" orchids. Also, Bletilla seed actually contains some nutrient reserves in the from of endosperm, and can germinate like regular seed. Pretty neat, huh?

As a matter of fact, mine put out a bunch of seed pods this last year, although I didn't recognize them for what they were until they were all brown and withered. What could I do with them? (I saved some just in case.)

Language Trivia: The word "factoid", commonly used to mean a little-known or small-yet-interesting fact, actually means something commonly stated as fact but which is in fact not true. ;)

Try sprinkling some around the base of the mother plant. If you feel like experimenting, try sowing them on a few types of media like sphag, peat, peat/sand mix, and potting soil and see what happens. A 24 hour soak in distilled water might help wake them up first, and might make it easier to sow using an eye dropper.

I had several seed capsules that matured late in the fall. I sprinkled the dust like seed all around the mother plant just for the heck of it, not expecting anything. Who knows, I might get some germination when the rainy season begins. As the old cliche' goes, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

trivia

1) noun , petty details or considerations; trifles; trivialities

Synonyms: trifle, minutiae
Antonyms: essential

:biggrin:

Yes it's trivial, but I found it mildly interesting, given my preoccupation with language and common usage. All that being said, of course I appreciate your help in response to my original questions. I will try what you suggested. I apologize for the diversion.

Dorothy,
Your such an enabler. I was thinking about native orchids to go here and poof, you put up a link.
:thanx:
Beverly

Hey Ray, No need to apologize! I was just messing with you. :fight I found that post interesting, and took no offense. I just had to get you back. :evil: It's just my style. I'm sorry too, sarcasm is hard to pull off on a computer. Maybe I'll learn one day. :roll:




And now for something completely different...

:chicken

It's all good. :D

:rofl:You guys all crack me up. Beverly, as soon as I saw that link Dorothy posted I had a new bookmark on my browser and a book for my birthday wishlist. RoyalOrchids and PleuroPal, I've been saying for years that someone needs to come up with a designated font or something for sarcasm. It really is essential. And since trivia has been brought up, I've always wanted to ask: if trivia is so trivial, why do we have so many tv shows and games revolving around trivia?:scratchhead:







Ahhh, the chicken never fails to make me laugh.
It just seems to pop up in the weirdest.. oh look a banana riding a llama

Yeah, I know what y'all mean about the difficulty of sarcasm on the internet. I've run into my fair share of misinterpreted missives. Especially since I tend to deliver them with such a "straight face." Deadpan.
Anyway, I'm sure I would have detected what was happening if I hadn't read and responded before having consumed a sufficient amount of coffee that morning. Otherwise I probably would have responded in kind with a dictionary definition of "noun" or something... :)

The purpose of trivia is to keep your brain functioning properly.

This year's blooms...

Ray, Great shots, love the creekside look. It's crazy to see yours bloom so late! Mine have seed capsules already about to pop. Any trick for delaying them?

Royal,

These pics are about a month old. The flowers are pretty much gone now. Thanks for the compliments.

love them.grow them in pots on my balcony in michigan. deer, yes. you know, if you feed them you can eat them. high protien, low fat, and yummy,