L. anceps mounted to Mimosa tree
 

First flower of the New Year, mounted to a Mimosa tree in the Los Angeles area, yesterday morning we had frost on all the roofs, lawns and cars but this bud still opened today, this morning a cold 41f.

This tree was planted with the thought of mounting orchids to it, tree is now 8 years in ground and has over 50 orchids and several Tillandsia attached, I have a drip system snaking its way up tree to water the mounts, it waters along with the rest of the yard 3 times a week in summer, I have to be very water wise since we are in a drought here in California.

Weather forecast say more rain with very cold nights and possible snow for my area, the plants on the tree have seen that before with no ill effects, there are 18 Lealia spikes that are waiting to open.

What a true delight!

Very cool! I'd like to do something like this here in TX. We can get cold snaps in the low 20's but naturally have 2 species tillansdia in Austin. I think a few orchid species should handle that.

I'd like to find a L. anceps to grow outside. It seems your climate is approx. similar to mine, although I think mine is hotter in summer and slightly colder in winter.
What are your extremes in temps and HR?

Beautiful!

amazing! So you're in the valley? guessing these have all handled the weeks of 90 to 100 degree weather and dry without problems also?

Anceps are very tough... great blooming!

Greetings Orchidbyte:

How wonderful that you can grow outside on a tree! Thanks for posting.
You mention that you have 50 varieties on the tree...please name more! Your photos are inspiring.

I am always on the look out for tough orchids. If you can grow them outside in California, that generally means they will grow in my cold GH in frigid New England. GH gets down to the 40sF routinely in winter. The Laelias love it.
So, the tougher, the better.
Only the strong survive~
Good growing and Happy New Year to you and all.
Maryanne

Lovely just lovely. Lets not talk about cold weather.

Maryanne, it's important to distinguish between cool tolerant versus cool growing. The orchids on Orchidbyte's trees can definitely tolerate the cold... but I'm not sure how many of them are actually cool growing.

For example, my Brassavola nodosas are certainly cold tolerant but they definitely aren't going to grow when it's cold. They only grow when the temps are intermediate and warm. Their temperature grow range is narrower than the actual range of temperatures they experience outdoors in my area.

It's only relatively recently that I've been trying to figure out which of my orchids are also cooler growers. These are going to be my orchids that have active root tips during the typical winter. For example... here were the roots of my Epicattleya Carrot Top Katydid (Cattleya sanguiloba x Epidendrum longipetalum) last January...

https://c1.staticflickr.com/2/1661/2...2db246d5_b.jpg
Epicattleya Carrot Top Katydid by Epiphyte, on Flickr

You can see by the tips of the roots that they were actively growing in the middle of winter. I attached the orchid to my Pygmy Date palm and the roots continued to grow throughout the year and are still actively growing. This time of year the large majority of my orchids no longer have active root tips. So Carrot Top Katydid is an exception to the rule. Another is Epidendrum diffusum... also Epicattleya Winnifred Stanfield (Cattleya aclandiae x Prosthechea mariae).

Don't you just love these temperature tolerant Laelia anceps?


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