We love Native Orchids!

Gardeners are often nervous about taking on the care of orchids. No need – we are here to help!

The easiest to propagate is the Christmas Orchid ( Calanthe triplicate), it is one tough orchid! It doesn’t mind being re-potted and is easy going when it comes to potting medium. It’s also fast growing (fast for an Orchid anyway!) so a repot is needed every other year, over time we’ve been able to split a few donated plants into a healthy collection with many plants for sale. It prefers to be under a 75% shade or more. Its natural habitat is dense shaded woodland along the east coast. The scented white flowers last for months, but flower spikes should be cut off once the flowers are spent. Interesting fact- when crushed, this very white flower produces an amazing blue dye.

By far the most stunning flower spike comes from the Lesser Swamp Orchid ( Phaius australis ), it can get to 1.5m when the plant is mature. They are less vigorous than the Christmas orchid so the mature plants get split up less frequently, this means we only ever have a limited number of mature plants for sale in a year. They do however self-seed quite readily and we have seedling plants ready for sale.

We also have a handful of Pink Nodding Orchid (Geodorum densiflorum), by far the toughest orchid to keep! This one doesn’t like it too wet or too dry. They are deciduous, the bulb hibernates under the soil in winter. They produce a distinct pink flower head that often appears without the leaf present that is bent over at the top, leading to a couple of its common names ‘nodding top orchid’ or ‘shepherds crook orchid’. At this time we don’t have any for sale, we just cross our fingers it will successfully seed one year so we can pot some up for sale.

They produce a distinct pink flower head that often appears without the leaf present that is bent over at the top, leading to a couple of its common names ‘nodding top orchid’ or ‘shepherds crook orchid.’
At this time, we don’t have any for sale, we just cross our fingers it will successfully seed on year and we can start to pop some for sale.
All are Australian large Orchids in SEQ are becoming, or are already listed as endangered, this is due to illegal collecting (a HUGE problem), grazing, and development of their natural habitat.

If you have a spot on your property that could be perfect for these orchids, please get in touch.
We want as many of these stunning plants returned to wild places/gullies and fields where they belong.

Click here for more specifics on how to grow and keep these beauties happy and healthy in your garden.
Large Terrestrial Orchids at Gympie Landcare

Our Supporters

Useful Links

Categories

Our Supporters

Useful Links

Tags

Categories