Chosen and planted with care and love: a Garden Orchid with lovely, small flowers or considerable eye-catchers. Something you want to enjoy as long as possible. Luckily, Orchids for in the garden are just as easy to care for as the Orchids in your home.
With these tips keep you can keep the Garden Orchid happy and will it offer you permanent joy.
Where to grow in the garden
Each Garden Orchid loves a place in the shade. A spot where bushes like shrubs throw their shadow is ideal. Damp soil, like the side of a pond, is less suitable. Don’t let its exotic appearance fool you: the plant generally suffers more from warm than from cold temperatures.
For optimal growth, the first spring is particularly important. Then, the plant will adapt to your garden climate. In its first spring, the Garden Orchid likes a lot of water, make sure the soil is well drained and water doesn’t stand. Afterwards, the plant becomes accustomed to its new environment and you can irrigate it with the other garden plants.
Flowering
Most types flower each year between April and June. In Fall the leaves will die off and the plant starts to hibernate. The Pleione, which is perfectly suitable for outside, can be put back in the garden or in a pot outside after flowering.
Hibernation
The Cypripedium is a perennial, frost-resistant plant that is easy to maintain. While hibernating, this garden orchid withstands temperatures of up to -20 °C. In the winter, there is no need to cover the plant. If you prefer to do so, then use tree bark instead of peat. The plant not only withstands severe frost, but even needs the winter cold in order to form more shoots the next spring; shoots that will produce more special flowers year after year. The other varieties are slightly less winterhardy, but can withstand temperatures until -10°C.
Perfect planting
You can plant your Garden Orchid in the autumn when the plant hibernates or in the spring after the severe frost. Garden Orchid is keen on sandy or clayey soil without peat or potting compost. If your garden soil is quite firm, you can mix it with some sand or clay granules. Plant your Garden Orchid without the pot in a spacious hole and hold the top of the root ball at the same level as the ground surface. Let the root ball make good contact with the garden soil and treat the plant afterwards to a large irrigation session.
