Cool growers for New Zealand winters
 

Hello all, did not know what title to give this new thread, so hope those who know will find it. I have run out of room in my small North facing property to put more orchids so I wondered if there are any cool/cold growing orchids that could be grown on the South West side of my house. Auckland does not have a frost but winter temps can drop to around 3C overnight, days around 14C. They would be in a plastic covered grow house. They would get mid to late afternoon sun. Many thanks.

You should check with your local society but zygopetalums and cymbidium come to mind, especially with some protection.

Thanku vry much. I will transfer them over.

There are also many cool-growing Dendrobiums that should do well for you: Those from higher elevations in New Guinea, and the the Formosae (Nigrohirsutae) group.

Also many Coelogyne.

Thanku for those suggestions.

I think there's a lot of Paphs and Phrags that could take that easily.

How are the summer temperatures? I'm just wondering if cool growing plants that would do well for you in the winter would be able to cope with warm summer weather (if that's what you have).

Others would have to confirm these, but I think Sarcochilus would do well, and maybe also Neofinetia falcata.

I think that your climate is rather similar to mine, just 6 months different. Check out the Plant Index on my website Roberta's Orchids and see what I grow outside. No grow-house needed. I think you should be able to grow most, if not all, of the same species and hybrids that I do. Since it is early spring for you, it should be starting to warm up - the perfect time to put your plants outside. Then they have much of the year to acclimate to whatever nature provides before next winter.

In general, when it is cold, keep your orchids drier. Water only in the morning, so that they have a chance to dry out before it gets cold at night. Overhead protection can certainly help for those that are marginal.

You should check out the Epiphyte Tree website. The guy who started the website lives in Te Aroha, New Zealand and grows many epiphytes, including orchids, outside year around. He's also uploaded a few photos of his orchids to Flickr. He's also uploaded some photos of frost so it can get pretty chilly where he lives.

It's really neat that he's had Dendrobium kingianum volunteer on his tree.

Thanku Camille, summer temps in Auckland can be up to around 28C. The orchids would get th full blast of the afternoon sun. Im not sure sarcs could take that?

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Thanku, I will check him out.