My Garden

I know it's November, and some of you Christmas purists will think this is too early, but quite frankly I don't care.  It's getting chilly outside, I've had enough of bulb planting and I'm very much in need of a good old-fashioned mid-winter festival.  So here we go, my top 10 garden gifts for kids this Christmas*

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Hi, Zoe P here. If your pleiones are looking like this at the moment, then don't panic because this is perfectly normal, every winter pleiones loose their leaves. Just take the leaves out and stop watering. Keep them cool but frost free. In January you will need to repot your pleiones in fresh compost and they will flower in March and April. We start to water once the new shoot is about 2cm high. 

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 Hi Zoe B here.  Why not listen to me on the radio.  Yestereday I was on BBC radio somerset talking about our trip to south africa.  You can lisen to me on wsbeorchids.org.uk

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 This lunchtime theWrithlington Orchid Greenhouse was looking great and we spent time photographing some of the plants in flower. There are some particularly interesting miniature orchids out at the moment. This is Barbosella handroi, a tiny species that grows in the coastal cloud forest of Brazil. In our greenhouse it flowers every November with masses of relatively large yellowish flowers. This plant has been grown from seed and is about ten years old. Simon Pugh-Jones says that school trips to Brazil have found this species covering the upper branches of trees in primary forest on steep mountain slopes exposed to the mists that come in off the Atlantic ocean. We grow it on a peice of cork bark and spray it with water once a day, so you dont need a Brazilian mountain to grow it well. If you want more information on how we grow our orchids check out the Seedling Portfolio page of our website. So far we have pages for nearly 200 of the orchid species we grow. 

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 The latest exciting news from West Park School in Durban is that there is now a team of staff and students responsible for their orchid project and the plants that we left there at the beginning of November are doing well. We are working with both the Durban Botanic Garden and the local Orchid Society to support work in the school. As you can see the school has a shade house ideal for growing orchids and students have experience growing a range of plants. At Writhlington we have set a target of to raise sufficient funding for an orchid laboratory at the school in just twelve months. We will let you know how we do, or if you like check the South Africa page of the Writhlington's website. As you can see we are looking very happy to be amongst the gardeners at West Park School.

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The rainfall here has reached Biblical levels recently.  There are only so many times you can say 'well, it's good for the garden' before you run the risk of death by cliche.  However, after getting myself ready to send out a white dove in search of dry ground, the rain ceased yesterday and there was even a cameo appearance by the sun

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We think that there are at least fifty orchid species in flower in the school greenhouse on any day in the year so we have decided to pick out one every week to share with you. This week is easy as the greenhouse is dominated by the flower spikes of Cymbidium tracyanum with its large fragrant flowers. This species is found in the East Himalayas from India to Laos and grows in the mountains at altitudes above 2000m. At school we grow it cool with a minimun of 10C and find the secret to flowering it well is to feed and water it heavily during the summer. 
 

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As you can see the new Writhlington School Orchid house is coming on really well. The thermal screening is in and the electrics are all installed including the fans which arrived this week. The growing area is a total of 200 square metres. Our grand opening will be in July 2010 and everyone is invited. More news to follow.

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If you like Eulophia speciosa you will love Eulophia cucullata. We spotted this as we left the Harold Johnson Reserve north of Durban. The flower spike was 60cm tall with these lovely flowers. We have compared it to photographs in books and our plant had much deeper brown colour on the reflexed petals and sepals.

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In South Africa we were really impressed by the terrestrial orchids we found growing in tropical grassland. One in particular, Eulophia speciosa, was actually quite easy to spot growing on roadside verges a bit like all the Pyramidal orchids you can see along the verges of the M5 motorway north of Bristol. After passing quite we stopped to have a close look. The plant is really robust with large yellow flowers. There are other yellow flowered plants in the road verges and so the Eulophia may be mimicking these to attract a pollinator.

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