Hello from Greece!
 

Hello!

I am Konstantinos Giannopoulos and live in Athens,Greece. I am new to keeping orchids although i do have a Cymbidium planted in my Pyrgos Garden that is doing well and flowering annually. I like epiphytes in general very much,although i dont currently grow many, and wish i had the required rainfall to grow them high on trees! Palms and Cycads are my soft spot and enjoy growing many species of them more than anything else! I like everything tropical though and enjoy a garden with a good deal of biodiversity rather than a single type of vegetation. I have a garden in Pyrgos,Peloponissos,Greece and enjoy tending it and adding more and more plants! Its mainly a palm garden but i am slowly building its biodiversity and trying to make it a rainforest type garden as the rainy climate with not much below 0C tempratures permits somewhat.
I have also been keeping tropical fish(mainly catfish of the Loricariidae family)for years.

I look forward to learning many new things here about orchid growing the potted and mainly the natural way(on mounts or trees:biggrin:) as there surely are many awesome species!

Best regards,
-Konstantinos

Over 16,000 members here from around the World. Many have several hobbies. You should fit right in. Hope you ask lots of questions. Please enjoy!

Welcome to Orchid Board :welcome:

Thank you very much Carol and Rosie for the warm welcome! :)

I will make sure to ask a lot :biggrin:

welcome kostas. this is a great community, full of caring people

καλώς ορίσατε! (I only study Biblical Greek so I hope I spelled it right.. ) :D Good to have you with us.

Welcome to orchid board! Your garden sounds fantastic! I love growing tropicals, too. We get a little below freezing here, but we can grow a type of palm [windmill] and some other sub tropicals, such as kiwi vines. We are trying to give our yard a tropical look with plants such as Palms, hibiscus and hardy banana. It isn't quite warm enough for year round Cymbidium, though!

WELCOME!! To the OB, from Chicago, Il. Can't wait to see pics of your garden.... Jim.

Hello and welcome to the OB.
Joann

Welcome to OB!

Thank you very much all of you for your warm welcome!!! :)

PickCloud,
You spelled it perfectly right,its great to hear you can read and write Greek! If you need assistance with something,i would gladly help you ;)

Vanda lover,
I just opened a thread about my garden in the Orchid lounge with a link to lots of photos from it for you and others to see ;) Your garden sound wonderful as well! I dont know your minimums but if you can grow Trachycarpus fortunei then you may be able to grow some other palms as well! ;)

Jim,
I just opened a thread about my garden in the Orchid lounge with a link to a photo thread of it!


This is a great forum indeed and i enjoy being part of it! :) Thank you all for making it what it is!

Hi Costas,
the coldest it gets on this part of Vancouver Island is -11 c [12 f] for brief periods. We can grow other palms with protecton, as well as many New Zeland [zone 8] plants, including kiwis.. It rains a lot in winter. On the South side its warmer, Annas hummingbirds winter there and there are people who grow oranges and lemons by hanging outdoor Xmas lights on them to keep them warm.
Thanks for the photo thread!

Nancy

Hi Nancy,

You surely can grow more species of palms even without protection! Rhapidophyllum hystrix can surely grow there and maybe Brahea armata,Nannorhops richiana,Serenoa repens,Chamaerops humilis and others. Look into the Phoenix and Livistona genus as well as Washingtonia for palms that may be possible grows. Butia sp. maybe as well. Some of these hate the heavy rains but that is easily fixed by planting them in well draining soil or on a mound of well draining soil. With a little research regarding their min tempratures before damage or death,you can surely find more species to plant in your garden and add interest! :) Bananas,Colocasia,gingers and bamboo also add a very nice touch to the garden,as do the huge gymnosperm species you have native in Canada! ;) Height is always good in the garden!

Happy growing!

-Konstantinos

Hi Kostantinos,
I'm afraid that I am limited for space, we do have a banana, there are lots of bamboos nearby and I have heard of gingers here. The Coloasia makes me wish for mor space! We have a Gunnera in our bog. The pond tacks up a good part of our yard.

Nancy

Kostas -> My greek is not that good! HAHHA! And besides your English is great anyways! :)

Nancy,
Its a shame you dont have enough space for all the goodies! We are in the same fate though:( So many beautiful plants,so little space:roll: I hope to change that though!

You could try growing a Colocasia in your bog as well as they dont mind that generally,at least some species like the big Colocasia esculenta variants and possibly others as well! Gunnera are awesome! I wish to try the huge growing ones at some point!:)

Vanda lover,
They do can become though:biggrin:;) If you ever need assistance just let me know:)

Thank you very much for your kind comment! I am glad you think so! I am trying to work my accent though as its not always as i would like it be:roll:

Welcome to Orchid Board, Kostas :)

I also really like Loricariid catfishes, but I haven't had anywhere suitable to keep them for many years (not even the small ones!) :(

Hey welcome to the forum! My wife is greek but moved to Australia when she was 4. She comes from Pyrgos which I think is south of Athens.

Hope you enjoy it here!