+ Spanish
When we talk about landscape, orchids set the difference between a pretty garden full of flowers, and that that also has style!!
For this project we used Phalaenopsis, Oncidium and Vandas to create an exotic ambiance in the house of one of our Clients, that kindly let us share some images. Here are some ideas on how to play with your garden’s design:
This is a terrace table that gets direct sunlight almost all day:
Being near the pool, we are using plastic pots that fool the eye and look as if they were ceramic pots ;)!! We did a couple of holes in the back (with a heated screwdriver) to provide drainage and to be able to grow them in the semi hydroponic method. Any orchid pot you have outside has to have very good drainage! Think about the rain!
We chose two small Vanda and a third one a little larger. These young Vandas will continue to grow and in a few years could be transferred to mounts on the trees, just like these bigger ones we mounted on the other end of the terrace:
These are large Vandas. The largest is 3.5 feet long from the base to the last leave, plus the length of the roots. These are mature plants that little by little will attach themselves to the tree by the roots and then we’ll be able to remove some of the horticultural tape used to mount them. It’s important to say that if Vandas are going to be completely exposed, we need to use a systemic fungicide as a preventive measure. The difference between a topic and a systemic fungicide (or miticide, insecticide…) is that the systemic one is absorbed by the plant to make it stronger, like a vaccine; it should be applied once a week at the beginning for 3 weeks, and then once a month in most cases.
For the front of the house, that “first impression”, we mounted several white Phalaenopsis in an area where they get the first sun rays of the day, and then shadow all day, but with very good light. It’s very important that when you mount Phals that you place them tilted in such manner that the rain won’t get trapped in the crown, avoiding crown rot, never upwards as you would place them in an inside pot:
And to close with a high note, we got 4 beautiful Oncidiums and tie them up. We mounted them together in the natural branching of the tree, not in the base, to be sure that the roots would get plenty of water, but also light and air movement: