Popular gift plant is easy to love (remember to add ice)
Moth orchids are increasing in popularity as a Christmas gift. Courtesy Exotic Plants
This holiday season, moth orchids seem to be America’s ubiquitous gift plant. The reasons why are simple: They look beautiful, they last a long time and they’re easy-care plants.
Moth orchids – Phalaenopsis – have grown steadily in popularity over the past two decades. U.S. growers now produce annually about 36 million orchid plants (mostly moths) worth an estimated $300 million, according to floral industry experts.
Peak holidays for giving orchids are Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, but Christmastime is booming, too. Winter is a great season to buy orchids, note industry experts; the plants are in good supply, they’re blooming and prices tend to be lower than for upcoming holidays.
Why moth orchids? This species likes temperatures in the 60s and 70s – just like most people. Native to Indonesia, they thrive in indoor light and humidity; they don’t need a hothouse to be happy.
What dooms most moth orchids? Overwatering. Mature plants need only ¼ cup of water – the equivalent of two ice cubes – a week.
As a reminder, orchid sellers launched a “Just add ice” campaign as an easy watering guide. Put two ice cubes a week on the plant’s bark (not the plant itself or roots) and let melt. That’s all the water they need.
Larger plants appreciate an occasional deep soaking; that refreshes the moisture in their bark, the best planting medium for orchids.
How do you keep that gift orchid happy for months to come (or longer)? This advice comes from Westerlay Orchids, a major California commercial grower:
* Place your orchid in ample indoor light but never in direct sun.
* North- and east-facing windows are often best.
* Water only when roots are gray and bark (the planting medium) appears dry.
* Soak plant for 30 minutes for best results. Then let drain.
* Fertilizer is not necessary. If you choose to use fertilizer, use a balanced fertilizer (for example 20-20-20 NPK) at half the normal dose once per month.
* To rebloom, trim the flower spike just above the node from where the last flowers bloomed. That node is where a new bloom shoot will form.
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Garden Checklist for week of Jan. 12
Once the winds die down, it’s good winter gardening weather with plenty to do:
* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.
* Now is the time to prune fruit trees. (The exceptions are apricot and cherry trees, which are susceptible to a fungus that causes dieback. Save them until summer.) Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease.
* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* After the wind stops, apply horticultural oil to fruit trees to control scale, mites and aphids. Oils need 24 hours of dry weather after application to be effective.
* This is also the time to spray a copper-based fungicide to peach and nectarine trees to fight leaf curl. (The safest effective fungicides available for backyard trees are copper soap -- aka copper octanoate -- or copper ammonium, a fixed copper fungicide. Apply either of these copper products with 1% horticultural oil to increase effectiveness.)
* When forced bulbs sprout, move them to a cool, bright window. Give them a quarter turn each day so the stems will grow straight.
* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.
* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.
* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.
* Plant bare-root roses, trees and shrubs.
* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.
* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.
* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.
* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranunculus and gladioli for bloom from late spring into summer.
* Plant blooming azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons. If you’re shopping for these beautiful landscape plants, you can now find them in full flower at local nurseries.
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