Not many people know that Vanilla is actually an orchid – in fact it’s one of the oldest surviving “primitive” orchids, the origins of which date back- give or take- 120 million years.

This orchid can be found in many tropical regions of the world and this distribution supports the theory that genus Vanilla is very ancient and these orchids display a number of archaic features. The scientists established that origins of Vanilla orchid go back to the time when Gondwanaland broke up some 120 million years ago. They base their finding on the theory of plate tectonics and trace the origin of this orchid to the very beginning of the Cretaceous period, or 120 – 130 million year ago.

Difficult to imagine, I know, such a time-frame, and even more humbling to see the plant that kept all of it’s genetic imprints intact through Earth’s history and evolution and still contributing it’s ancient, bold, uncompromising, unchanged energy to our modern times.

There are a number of species contained within this genus and they occur throughout the tropics. The most known are Vanilla planifolia that grows in Asia and Americas and Vanilla polylepis from Africa – in Angola, Zaire, Kenya. The plant mostly farmed for the vanilla essence that is made from seed pods and plants grow as vines that often reach more than 100ft long.

I always wanted to see this orchid growing in it’s natural habitat and to experience myself it’s special energy, to see how it’s pollinated by native birds and see how it adapted to our “modern” culture and a couple of years ago had an opportunity to visit Lifou island in New Caledonia – one of the biggest Vanilla plantations in the Pacific.

Lifou island is part of the Loyalty islands – it’s beautiful and pristine paradise with clear waters and streams and waterfalls, abundance of wildlife and magical tropical birds, unusual, ancient plants with huge Vanilla plantation where this orchid grows in it’s natural habitat. Native people are very friendly and hospitable and very much tuned to nature, seasons, tides, healing plants and living in tune with all life around them. They plant and harvest and gather by Moon and by stars and I was fortunate to visit an elder of the village, who was a woman, so wise and so humble.

The Vanilla orchids grow through all the island – huge vines everywhere and I was taken through different stages of producing vanilla beans – from planting, to growing to maturing to harvesting and then drying. Few times a year huge ships come to the island to collect the beans and take them all over the world, to be used in so many different ways in our modern living.

So, here it is – a humble Vanilla orchid, as old as the “time” itself, being grown by Native people all over the world who respect it’s origin and it’s destiny and it’s place in our everyday lives. If ever opportunity presents itself for you to visit Vanilla plantation anywhere in the world, be it Mexico or South America or Pacific or Africa – take the chance, you’ll be amazed at the knowledge you will take with you.

This is another Zygopetalum orchid from my collection, currently in flower. It’s variety “Port Vincent” and it have beautiful two-tone blooms. The petals are rich velvety dark brown color and the lip slightly curly velvety purple color.

These orchids are mainly sub-tropical to warm temperature growers and can take quite a bit of heat, which is perfect for our summer climate. They love growing in the shade with lot’s of air movement and the shadiest part of my garden ideal place for them. They like a bit of moisture , but dislike being wet for a long period and require liberal, heavy watering followed by being almost dry before being watered again.

In AU, we have number of innovative Zygo orchid breeders and new beautiful and striking varieties appearing all the time, giving immense pleasure to orchid collectors. Thankfully, many breeding lines have kept the unmistaken Zygo scents. “Port Vincent” variety have main jasmine like scent with undertones of honeysuckle – very enjoyable combination that lingers around the garden for a long time.

If you live in sub-tropical or warmer climate and have shady spot in the garden or a balcony or a covered situation – give Zygo’s a go, they are easy to grow, will reward you with striking blooms and scent and will show you a magic of orchids and they way it brings people together from such different backgrounds to share their love of these beautiful plants.

This beautiful cymbidium orchid called “Blooming Early “Autumn Mist” and it’s just finished flowering in my garden.

I did not expect it to flower at this time of the year – we are now right in the middle of summer with hot dry days followed by cool rainy weather. Couple of weeks ago we had a lot of rains and this orchid started sending one flower spike, very unusual, since majority of cymbidiums in our climate cool flowering plants. Somehow, it must of got confused with the seasons, I can understand , since at times I am also confused with our weather and plants seems to find their own optimum times for flowering.

It’s nice to see and to smell beautiful flowering orchid and this one does not disappoint. It’s parentage Stanley Parkinson x Winter Wonder and the color is very pleasing light apricot with pink dotted centre with some pink dots on the petals. Another beautiful addition to any orchid collection.

Another flowering orchid from my collection – Sarcochilus var hartmannii just finished flowering.

Currently there are about 15 species of Sarcochilus orchids and all of them grow in Australia and New Caledonia. They all small plants that love high humidity and intermediate temperatures and have nice color combinations.

My Sarcochilus orchid is var hartmannii and this variety growth restricted to a small area near QLD – NSW border in eastern AU. In nature it grows in rock crevices and cliffs in altitudes up to 1000 meters, forming small clumps.

The flowers are white with bright pink in the middle and are semi-pendulous with fragrance that resembles orange blossom and in our climate appear usually in early summer. It likes good air movement, no direct sunlight and moist conditions through the growing year.

It seems to like growing in my garden and flowering year after year – another beautiful and interesting orchid for a collector or anyone who can replicate their growing needs.

This cymbidium orchid is one of the world’s favourate – it loved by specific orchid growers and gardeners world wide for it’s beautiful striking blooms. It’s called Da Vinci “Charm” and its parentage Lunata x Hove.

Here is another flamboyant and beautiful cymbidium orchid from my collection – it’s name Down Under “Moana Gold”

This is another interesting orchid from my collection that just flowered – its Miltonia spectabilis var alba x odm Holiday Gold. Its rather a rare cross and a beautiful orchid to have and to admire.

Despite being a collectors item its actually very easy orchid to grow and lends itself well to specimen culture.

The flowers of this orchid is very large (approx 20 cm across), it flowers freely and producing impressive display. The beautiful white/burgundy flowers open very widely and each flower spike carry 4 – 5 huge flowers.

These orchids native to Panama, Colombia and Costa Rica and they grow naturally on rocks and tree branches in cloud forests where morning mists and afternoon showers are the norm. In our climate they are quite happy in the shadiest part of my garden and they love frequent watering.

This cymbidium orchid currently in flower in my garden – it’s name James Toya Velvet and it’s been created by one of the innovative cymbidium AU breeder for a cut flower market.

Couple of years ago I was able to obtain a few unflowered seedlings of this variety and been patiently waiting for it to produce it’s first for me blooms, and as you can see, it is a beauty!

The plant is very strong and carry 5 large blooms. The flowers are flamboyant hot pink color with mild spicy scent, which is unusual for cymbidium orchid. The lip of the flower showing white/dark pink velvety texture and overall appearance effect is very pleasing. I think James Toya Velvet will be another winner in the cymbidium circle because it will appeal to many orchid collectors and gardeners alike.

The flowers are huge of beautiful lemon color with distinct red colored lines running through the petals and the middle of the flower displaying bright red velvety lip – very pleasing to the eye combination of colors.

The plant is quite strong with many flower spikes and while each flower spike have only 3 or 4 flowers, they are quite spectacular in appearance, real showbench quality. One can actually see the creator’s thoughts in this beautiful Firegold.

Oncidiums are one of the wonderful genus for orchid collectors since it contains huge numbers and a large diversity of plant habits and floral features that a grower can spend a lifetime collecting and learning about them.

They currently numbering more than 750 species and these orchids distributed in southern Florida, Mexico, the West Indies, Central and South America. Their habitat range from the lowlands to high elevation in the mountains and most species grow on trees and rocks.

Oncidiums are generally regarded as being an adaptable group of orchids but even so a consideration of their area of origin can help in cultivation and help to avoid any problems. Those species from high elevation in the Andes are cool growers, while those originating in the lowlands require heat.

My oncidium Facade x Quennervaris just started flowering – its a beautiful cool growing orchid and it flowers with these special large, rather huge white flowers that have bright yellow spots all over them. Its rather a “collector’s item”, since not many plants of this cross currently in existence, but hopefully it will change in the near future so that many more growers can appreciate this beauty from cool mountains of Andes.