Last June, I had promised a sequel to this post. What I hadn't expected was that I would be back with my update in less than an year!!
Starting from where I had stopped.......
Last monsoon, this branch, with lots of wild orchid plants had landed near our gate from the tree across the road, and, I had decided to experiment with them..
As planned, I had potted a couple, placed one on a shrub in our garden and had left the remaining on the branch itself.
Until February, i.e., for about 8 months, they were looking exactly like how I had transferred/ let them be. By mid - February, when the weather turned warm, the ones on the branch withered away. I was planning on keeping the branch until the end of the monsoon this year. But, before I could tell him, Chandrappa, my latest gardening help had thrown the branch away....
The ones that I had placed on the Allamanda shrub have developed new roots and are showing signs of flowering. Of course, thanks to my earlier experience I'm quite sure that sooner or later, these will flower.
Now, I wish I had placed more on other shrubs, leaving only one or two on that ill-fated branch!
The first results of my experiment, however, have come from the ones I had planted in a pot - could be because I have provided them with some extra care (coconut water and some tea residue on a monthly basis).
Now, orchids are planted in pots that have holes all over, in order to aerate the roots. Pieces of bricks and charcoal, not sand/ soil, is used as the medium for growth.
Around the last week of March, the plant had these tiny yellow flowers... totally different from the flowers in my earlier post. As there are very few flowers, I think I can safely refer to these as Draupadi danDe and the earlier ones as Seeta danDe.
You know, quite coincidentally, the yellow orchids look very similar to the only other potted orchid in our garden!
Starting from where I had stopped.......
Last monsoon, this branch, with lots of wild orchid plants had landed near our gate from the tree across the road, and, I had decided to experiment with them..
As planned, I had potted a couple, placed one on a shrub in our garden and had left the remaining on the branch itself.
Until February, i.e., for about 8 months, they were looking exactly like how I had transferred/ let them be. By mid - February, when the weather turned warm, the ones on the branch withered away. I was planning on keeping the branch until the end of the monsoon this year. But, before I could tell him, Chandrappa, my latest gardening help had thrown the branch away....
The ones that I had placed on the Allamanda shrub have developed new roots and are showing signs of flowering. Of course, thanks to my earlier experience I'm quite sure that sooner or later, these will flower.
Now, I wish I had placed more on other shrubs, leaving only one or two on that ill-fated branch!
The first results of my experiment, however, have come from the ones I had planted in a pot - could be because I have provided them with some extra care (coconut water and some tea residue on a monthly basis).
Now, orchids are planted in pots that have holes all over, in order to aerate the roots. Pieces of bricks and charcoal, not sand/ soil, is used as the medium for growth.
Around the last week of March, the plant had these tiny yellow flowers... totally different from the flowers in my earlier post. As there are very few flowers, I think I can safely refer to these as Draupadi danDe and the earlier ones as Seeta danDe.
You know, quite coincidentally, the yellow orchids look very similar to the only other potted orchid in our garden!
Congrats on your experimenting !!
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