Cold Tolerant Orchids for 9a
 

Hello,

I am new here and was interested in knowing if anyone knew of orchids with larger flowers that were hardy enough to survive outdoors without protection in central Florida where the temperature can get down to 20 degrees. Laelia anceps has done well for me mounted in a tree and survived this past winter without damage even though some queen palms died. I recently purchased Encycla tampensis because I was told it had cold hardiness too. I am looking for ideas on other large flowered orchids that will do well mounted on trees in my area.

Thanks!

Krishna

Perhaps other large Laelias.

L superbiens
L tenebrosa
L purpurata

If Laelia anceps made it then here's a great AOS article with quite a few other orchids to consider...

Growing Orchids Outdoors in Southern California

For additional ideas on mounting orchids on trees check out the flickr group for landscaping with orchids.

Excellent to know that the Laelia Anceps did well for you, since I'm in zone 9a too. I have encyclia tampensis but haven't tried it outdoors yet since I'm waiting for them to get bigger. Another one that is supposedly hardy is neofinetia falcata, which I recently purchased myself.

check here too: Outdoor growing orchids

Very nice info!!! Thanks all. I too am in N. FL. and are thinking about mounting a plant in my east facing robellini palms.

Hi Krishna, you might also check out some of the nobile-type Dendrobium species. Not all of these will be easy to bloom in Florida because they need a cool period in winter to set buds, but most can tolerate both hot and cold weather without much stress, as long as you water a lot when it's hot and keep them dry when it's cold. Off the top of my head these are some that might do okay outdoors for you:

cucullatum (formerly aphyllum or pierardii)
anosmum
parishii
unicum

The first two get quite large while the latter two are very petite. All are spectacular in full bloom and have nice fragrances with fairly long-lasting flowers.

Den. moniliforme is one that's very cold-tolerant but probably won't grow or bloom well in your heat. However, I've noticed that a lot of the hybrids descended from it (which is almost any miniature nobile-type hybrid) are very easy to bloom with fairly short and mild cool periods. Many of these also inherit moniliforme's great fragrance and probably won't mind a bit of frost. Some of my favorites are Yellow Chinsai, Pixie Charm, Kokomo, and Stardust, but there are a lot to choose from. Hope this helps!

--Nat

Welcome to the Orchid Board. A great bunch of helpful people. Enjoy!

I can't help much with specific plants because I'm further south, but I can say from experience that the USDA zone should only be a guide. Depending on your specific microclimate you may be a full zone or even 1 1/2 from the official zone for your area. Consider if you are exposed to winds, are low-lying (cold settles), sheltered by a warm building (or heavy agricultural backing), etc.. It may enable you to expand what you can (or can't) grow. Unfortunately - we usually ahve to experiment to find out.

Also - I was convinced that the USDA zones were getting obsolete due to generalized warming. Things grew succesfully that were borderline for my zone. The extended winter last year took out several naturalized orchids that had survived for years.