oeceoclades maculata

[got ants]

Well since yesterday was a beautiful day, a buddy of mine and I decided to do some nature hiking and see how our local fauna survived this past winter. Some things looked OK, others, not so much.

We basically went around north Broward and south Palm Beach counties.

All the known Encyclia Tampensis seem OK. That's about the only native orchid I know of around here. The Tilandsias faired OK as well. The only negative we saw was that many of the Cypress trees took a pretty hard hit from the cold, with about 15% lost. Those that survived are putting out new growth so it was easy to tell the difference.

The wild coffees seemed burnt pretty bad, not sure they will make it. Pretty much anything that was not deciduous took a hit.

We did however find a patch of many oeceoclades maculatas in this forrested area that had bike trails through out it. They were growing in heavy shaded areas and very moist loose soil/leaf litter. Lots of seed pods on them as well. I'll have to go back to take pics as my camera battery died prior to this last spot we went to. They should be in bloom by september.

When I pointed it out to my buddy, his response was.."those are not orchids, they are mother-inlaw-tongues" lol. I then showed him the psuedobulbs and seed pods and he was shocked. Well, me too as I have never seen these before.

Here's some pics from the day...

new growth on cypress tree


circular branch on a cypress tree

How did it grow like this?

air plants on slash pine


Encyclia Tampensis on Slash Pine


bird of prey

Maybe a Osprey? Very large at about 20"+

strangle fig on palm tree

Can anyone ID the type of grass growing on the palm>

old kids tree fort

[fotofashion]

There is a lot of angst here among gardeners over what was lost due to the freezes. Since many have never lived where there are hard freezes, they do not know to wait, wait and maybe wait a bit more to see if that beloved plant survived or not. Actually, some plants seem to have benefited from the cold (IMHO). Seems like some are blooming a lot more nicely this year.
I foolishly left some potted cactus plants outside and I think some of them are toast-or ice cubes?
Beverly A.

[flhiker]

I hear ya! I had to get out on Saturday for the same reason. I see quit a bit of these cypress tree like that and some the size of the trunk. I think the branch gets bent back by storms and the tree repairs the break and continues to grow. Also the grass like growth coming out of the tree is vittaria lineata or shoestring fern.