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A Delightful Addition to Indoor Gardens

by Adam Fulford, WestCornerOrchid.com

A Delightful Addition to Indoor Gardens

Native to tropical regions all over the Americas and the Caribbean, Oncidium orchids are also known as “Dancing Girls”, renowned for their bright and showy yellow flowers with ruffled edges that look like a troop of ballerinas in frilly yellow dresses. Some varieties may exhibit orange, red, pink, white, or blue flowers. Dancing Girls are known to feed pollen to hummingbirds.

Renowned Swedish botanist Olof Swartz, widely considered to be the world’s first orchid specialist, became enthralled with the Dancing Girls of the American tropics when he first beheld them in jungles of the Americas in 1783, and named them Oncidiums.

Also Known As…

Oncidiums are also known as “Dancing Dolls” for their distinctive appearance, but also referred to as “Spray Orchids” by some orchid aficionados due to a capability they possess to store water.  Oncidiums are also sometimes titled as “Butterfly Orchids,” named by people who found their looks to be reminiscent of butterflies.

Dancing Girls Are Sure to Satisfy a Range of Preferences

Some Dancing Girls — equitants — are are quite petite, and very pretty, and others are large, growing up to five meters high, with grand blooms. They come in all sorts of colors and sizes, sure to please a range of tastes.

Most “Dancing Girls” are epiphytic — they reside on trees, rather than on the ground, and get nourishment from the air. Dancing Girls bloom well and take on a lovely form, and so are choice flowers for anyone just starting to get involved with orchids.

Fertilizer for Oncidium Dancing Girls

Keep in mind that Dancing Girls’ preferences in growing culture is related to they’re from, so they can’t all be treated in the same way. They have been found to be partial to fish emulsion, manure teas, and other organic fertilizers.

Potting Needs of Dancing Girls

Bark based mixtures with perlite and charcoal added, are the standard potting soil for Oncidiums. Oncidiums should be repotted at least every couple years, maybe even every year.

Best Humidity Range of Oncidium Orchids

Humidity should run about 40% to 60%.

Best Temperatures For Our Dancing Dolls

70 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit (21°-29° Celsius) night time temperatures of between 55 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit (12.8° to 15.6° Celsius)

Special Qualities of Dancing Girls

Dancing Girls are tropical beauties. The oncidium genus encompasses over three hundred species of orchids found in tropical zones of the Americas.

Like many orchids, parts of the Dancing Girls’ stems are round and puff out in bulblike forms, known as a “pseudobulbs.” Each Dancing Girl pseudobulb has a single segment in the stem, known as the internode which is enclosed in a sheath or covered in some other way. The internode joins the nodes, small swellings on the orchids stem out of which the leaves emerge.

Colors

The much loved Dancing Dolls are typically yellow shades, but some are pink, purple, red, or white. They range in size from rather tiny to quite large.

While most Dancing Girls are epiphytes living in trees, some varieties are lithophytes residing on rocks or stones, getting nourishment from the atmosphere, or terrestrials and grow in the ground.

Flower Size

Orchids sizes range from those of miniature varieties with blooms that are less than an inch (2.5) in length to enormous varieties that reach heights of over five meters, with leaves or around twelve inches (30 cm) in length and flowers around 4 inches or five inches(10-12.5 cm).

Oncidiums are certainly complex and not fully understood, and classifying them has proven to be a challenge for botanists. While we may not fully understand the ways of Dancing Girls, we can always enjoy the mystery and allure of these beauties.

A Fabulous Indoor Plant

Dancing girls add grace, elegance, drama, and beauty to home decor.

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Two Kinds of Lady’s Slipper Orchids are Very Popular House Plants

by A. Fulford, WestCornerOrchid.com

Varieties of Lady’s Slipper Orchids Can Be Found All Over the World, From Woodlands to the Tropics

The name “Lady’s Slipper” is given to several varieties of terrestrial orchids from around the world that have a distinctive pouch on the flower. Terrestrial orchids, they grow and root in soil. A Lady’s Slipper orchid of any genera, species, and region is easily spotted by its trademark pouch on the flower which looks somewhat like a slipper, moccasin, or shoe.

Genera

Lady Slippers orchids belong to the subfamily Cypripedioidea, which includes several genera, variations of which grow all over the world.

Appearance

Lady’s Slipper orchids are also known by variations of the name, including Lady’s-Slipper, Lady Slippers, Ladysslipper. There are many genera and varieties of this orchid type. In the United States, Lady’s Slippers are commonly referred to as “Moccasin Flowers”.

Paphiopedilum orchids are one of the best orchid species to cultivate under artificial lighting. Paphiopedilum orchids are curious plants which are often thought to be carnivorous because of the intriguing pouch that forms part of the flower.

Paphiopedilum species are sometimes included in the Cyripedium.

Are Ladysslipper Orchids Carnivorous?

The pouch of Lady Slippers in which bugs constantly get entrapped has led many people to suspect that Lady’s Slippers are carnivorous. Do not always believe the misleading notions that nature sometimes throws our way. It is natural for people to be suspicious of gorgeous stars like Lady’s Slipper orchids, but they are not carnivorous (but Sharon Stone might be).

Why Do Lady Slippers Orchids Have Pouches?

Ladyslipper’s pouches help pollinate the flowers. Insects get briefly entrapped in the pouches and collect or deposit pollen on the staminode as they crawl out of the pouches.

Lady’s Slippers are Native to…

Different and distinct genera and species of Ladys Slipper Orchids grow all over the world!

Native variations of Lady’s Slipper orchids inhabit the Americas, Southeast Asia, and several regions of Europe, and are even found in Papua, New Guinea!

Lady’s Slipper Orchid Varieties Native to North America are Highly Treasured

Some species have even come to represent states or provinces in which they grow!

• The official flower of Prince Edward Island province in Canada is Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium acaule), and in the province’s floral emblem.
• Showy Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium reginae) is Minnesota’s state flower.
• The state flower of the New Hampshire, USA, is Pink Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium acaule).

What Kinds of Lady’s Slipper Orchids are the Most Popular House Plants?

The primary types of Ladys Slippers popular as indoor plants are two tropical varieties:

1. PAPHIOPEDILUMS are native to tropical forests in southeast Asia and extending to regions of Southern China. Paphiopedilum orchids are popular among orchid lovers because they are gorgeous to behold and relatively easy to crow and cultivate in greenhouses and do well with artificial lighting. Wild variations of Paphiopedilum (freckles orchid) are over-collected in their natural settings, threatening its populations and causing damage to its native habitat.
2. PHRAGMIPEDIUM found across northern South and Central America are also easy to cultivate indoors are ok in temperatures low enough that, in many places, they do not need be within confines of greenhouses.

Maintenance and Care

These Orchids especially favor very humid settings. Once in a while spray them with mist.

Do not ever them them get too try, or the flowers will be harmed and even fall off the plant if they dry out too much.

Potting Requirements

Best grown in clay pots, with a drainage hole, sized to accommodate plant and root growth for two years.

Appearance of Healthy Plants

Well cared-for and properly fertilized lady’s slipper orchids

Soil Needs of Lady’s Slippers

Lady’s Slipper orchids do not grow well in regular garden soil.

Lady’s Slipper orchids do not grow well in regular garden soil. The appropriate soil for Lady’s Slipper orchids is a specialized potting mix that one may acquire through:

• A) purchasing them online, or in a gardening supply store

or

• B) making it yourself. There are numerous terrestrial soil combinations one may find in gardening books or online. There are a numerous online forums devoted to orchids. Don’t be shy about participating in them (they can be quite lively!):

One soil combination (you can easily find alternative combos online):

• 6 parts pine bark nuggets
• 1 part peat moss (or coconut husks)
• 1 part charcoal.
• 1 part perlite or vermiculite

Appropriate Temperature Range for Ladysslipper Orchids

Lady’s slipper of the most common household orchid varieties — Paphiopedilums and Phragmipedium – require daytime temperatures between 70 degrees Fahrenheit and 90 degrees Fahrenheit and night time temperatures of between 55 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit (° to ° Celsius)

Watering Needs

These orchids need to be watered once every three days.

A Wonderful House Plant

Lady’s Slipper Orchids certainly add exotic beauty to any indoor setting.

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