Everyone is used to the fact that indoor orchids have become a common plant in our apartments. But there they created special conditions, starting from the ground and ending with the temperature. Is it possible to grow orchids in an ordinary garden, and even without shelter? It turns out there are such flowers. Their name is garden orchid.
Description
Orchid - a tropical flower, unusual in shape, mysterious and delicate. Its flowers resemble colorful butterflies. This is a monocotyledonous plant having 600 species alone, and several thousand varieties.
Flowers are usually collected in brushes or spikelets, sometimes solitary.
Aerial roots she clings to the bark of trees growing nearby. There is humus, which the orchid eats. Such species are called epiphytes. They are placed on citrus fruits, oaks, magnolias.
But there are those that grow in the ground. They are called lithophytes. Many of them have tubers or thick rhizomes, deepened into the ground for a short distance.
Varieties of garden orchids
In the southern regions, you can plant such garden orchid species as Pollenhead and Lyubka. But they are very demanding on growing conditions. Therefore, they are not widely used. It’s even more difficult to care for Kremastroy changeable. But Venus slipper (photo see in this article) can grow in the gardens of the southern strip, without requiring special care. But first, you need to work hard to create conditions suitable for him.
Site preparation
First, create a "garden" in which the garden orchid will grow. They are looking for a site with poor but loose soil that easily passes air. Moisture should not stagnate there. If there is no such site, you can prepare forest land, add expanded clay, sand, gravel. Initially planted "forest" - dwarf conifers. It can be pine, spruce, juniper, cypress. Then place the ferns. They are waiting for at least one year, better - a couple of years. The plot is ready for planting orchids.
If you do this earlier, the garden orchid may take root, but it will constantly hurt. A fungus will settle on the leaves, they will be spoiled by dark spots. This is due to the fact that an orchid does not form mycorrhiza with these plants, which helps fight pathogenic fungi. If you plant a culture on time, then fungal diseases will be fearless to it.
Feedback from some users suggests that their garden orchids grow well in the neighborhood with hosts, tree peonies. Neighboring with deciduous plants. And, although there are no conifers nearby, these garden orchids look good.
Types of shoes
The slipper is real - a forest plant, rather capricious. Its petals are narrow, wrapped in a spiral. It grows well on nutrient-rich soils, but is constantly sick, so it is better to plant them on poor forest soils. They will grow worse, but they look better.
The shoe is large-flowered - with pink flowers, larger in size than the present. Its petals are not curved, like a shoe of the present, more smooth and slightly wider.
Often there are various hybrids of shoes of the present and large-flowered. They come from spontaneous pollination between these plants. Therefore, it is not always possible to determine exactly the type of garden orchid.
One of the hybrids of these species has its own name - a bloated shoe. He got this name for a swollen lip. The color and shape of the petals of hybrid varieties depend on the acidity of the soil. The larger it is, the brighter the color. The yellow shoe and the Queen's shoe were previously considered unsuitable for cultivation in our gardens due to low frost resistance. But in recent years, they are increasingly appearing on flower beds.
Orchid Slipper spotted grows well on shaded flower beds. Its root system is located close to the surface of the earth, so in a sunny place it will not live long.
There are also garden hybrids that need to be covered for the winter from frost. But they did not get wide distribution due to difficulties with leaving.
Varieties such as Yatabe and Tibetan have not yet been studied and are not adapted to our conditions.
The original form has a garden orchid tritsirtis. This plant is about 70 cm high with a flower diameter of 4 cm. It looks more like a lily. The colors of tricitris are varied. Petals are yellow, white, covered with dark dots. Tricitris short-haired and broad-leaved can be planted in open ground.
Planting a shoe
In nature, orchids grow in the forest. Therefore, they need to be planted in a shaded place. You can even on the north side. The soil should be loose, easy to pass air. The slipper does not like dry soil, but does not tolerate moisture. Acidity - 7 pH.
Ordinary slipper will not work. You need to take expanded clay, crushed bark of a tree, moss and charcoal (1 hour each). They will serve as drainage for the flower. Add peat of neutral acidity to the soil (2 hours). They dig a hole with a width of 50 cm and a depth of 10 cm. A hill is poured to a third of the height. Set the root of the orchid on its top. The rest of the place is covered with the remaining soil. Watered with warm water. From above, it is absolutely necessary to mulch the area of needles.
Features of growing tricitris
Tricitris is less picky about the soil. It must be fertile. Loose chernozem is best suited. It grows well in partial shade. But the sun should illuminate it for half a day. And late-flowering varieties should be in a bright place.
In winter, they cover with mulch or covering materials. In early spring, they clean it. In the middle lane, they are grown in tubs and hidden in the room for the winter.
Use for registration of borders.
Epiphytes orchids are grown by tying them to a tree with a rope. But with us they do not grow in the open ground, so it’s not worth talking about them. What care do garden orchids require?
Care
Orchid Venus slipper (photo - in our article) should be regularly watered. Constantly ensure that the soil does not dry out. It will not be waterlogged, because it is well-drained.
From time to time, garden orchids need to be fed with complex fertilizers that do not contain urea.
Weeds that have grown close to the orchid are removed very carefully. If they are large, then it is better to cut them so as not to injure the roots of the plant.
Garden orchid loves rain, so it can be irrigated in the morning and evening.
In the fall, the orchid is cut off, leaving 2 cm above the ground. Mulch fallen leaves.
Breeding
Garden orchid can be propagated by dividing the bush. As soon as it grows and it has 3 false bulbs, and this happens quite quickly, you can separate the sprouts with one to three buds of growth, sprinkle the cut with wood ash and plant in a prepared place. In this way, Cattleya's garden orchid, Cymbidium, propagates.
Reviews of gardeners suggest that their garden orchids grow not only in the shade, but also in sunny or slightly shaded areas, while they feel great, and begin to bloom even earlier than those planted in the shade.