New River Valley Master Gardeners

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Care of Orchids By Sharon Eifried

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At Master Gardener College 2017, I was fortunate to attend a presentation about the “Tips and Tricks” of caring for orchids given by Art Chadwick of Chadwick & Son in Richmond. The presentation covered the care of several different types of orchids and the idiosyncrasies of each.

For this discussion, I am going to focus on the information that Mr. Chadwick provided about the care of the Phalaenopsis or Moth Orchid which is the type orchid I see in the grocery store and usually buy for my home. I bet you did not know that this orchid blooms for approximately 3 months from January through May? Of course not, because we see these orchids blooming in the store year-round! Well, it seems that this orchid can conveniently be forced to bloom anytime.

The Phalaenopsis requires indirect light. That means shade or early morning/late day sun. Mr. Chadwick recommends a potting medium of sphagnum moss in clay or plastic pots. To pot, soak sphagnum moss in water for 24 hours and then stuff in around the roots. The ideal air temperature is 65 to 90 degrees F. If the leaves are warm to touch the plant is being exposed to too much sun. You can judge the correct light exposure over time by looking at the color of the leaves. Dark green foliage means not enough light and pale green foliage means too much light. Medium green is the perfect color! You can encourage spiking by exposing the plant to 50 degree temperatures at night for three weeks in the fall.

Water when the medium is almost dry, once or twice a week. Water thoroughly and keep damp all the time. The temperature of the water should be about 65 degrees. Avoid getting water in the crown.

Cut off the stem after the blooms die. Use fertilizer sparingly because orchid roots are sensitive. Weak solutions applied several times a month are usually sufficient. You can use one teaspoon of Epson salts in one gallon of water to feed your plants. To prevent buds from falling off the plant, strive for at least 50% humidity year round.

I would also like to share some specific tips that Mr. Chadwick provided about some other types of orchids. The Cattleya (Corsage orchid), the Dendrobium (Hawaiian Lei orchid) and the Oncidium (Dancing Lady orchid) require filtered direct sun which means full sun diffused by sheer curtains or partially turned blinds. Do not use sphagnum moss for a Dendrobium orchid, but instead use lava rock or Fir bark in a clay pot.  Specific to the Cattleya orchid, do not cut the bulbs off after flowering and keep pot bound.  The roots can cover the inside and outside of the pot. Specific to the Dendrobium orchid, leave the bulbs and do not cut back. This orchid blooms from the top, blooming on old and new cane.

My Phalaenopsis had a great year in 2017 and I have no idea how that happened! Essentially, I set it aside and ignored it after it finished blooming. I must have put it in the right place, with indirect light. I watered it faithfully every week and it re-bloomed. Not only did it re-bloom, but it birthed a beautiful baby! (See photo) Now that the orchid is finished blooming, I will snip off the baby and plant it in wet sphagnum moss in a clay pot. I will choose the smallest pot that will fit the roots and pack the moss around them. I will put the plant back in its “right place” with indirect sun, water it once or twice a week, and then I will just have to wait. Stay tuned!

If you live in the Richmond area you can board your orchid at Chadwick’s for $2.00 per month! Out- of-bloom orchids are boarded under greenhouse conditions until they re-bloom. To learn more about orchids, the care of orchids and Chadwick’s, visit: http://www.chadwickorchids.com/

Lavender

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Lavender:  Relax … Stop and Smell the Flowers

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By Susan Perry, NRV Master Gardener

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Ask yourself, “Is there anything better than lavender?”  Imagine the scent, the color … simply perfection.  Lavender is romantic, it looks and smells beautiful, and it’s healing.  Lavender is a good choice for perennial gardens in Virginia, and under the right conditions, can be quite easy to grow.   And we have a fabulous local grower nearby who I recently had the opportunity to visit.  You can learn a lot about lavender by visiting Mystic River Lavender in Riner.   A handful of NRV Master Gardeners recently visited and although I didn’t count, owners Janice and Keith Mileski easily have more than 1000 plants growing there.

 

Besides producing beautiful, fragrant flowers, lavender can be dried in bunches or used to make various products by extracting essential oils or using dried blossoms.  Annual maintenance of established lavender is average and lavender has few pest or disease problems.   An added benefit for Janice is that deer seem uninterested in lavender.  Once established, lavender is extremely drought tolerant.  According to Janice, she only waters lavender plants during the first year, and then sparingly.

 

Lavender flourishes in Mediterranean climates, so any attempts to grow lavender in SW Virginia should attempt to replicate that climate.  When selecting a location, think “Mediterranean climate” because that is where the lavender plant first came from.  Other places lavender grows well are Colorado, Texas, the Pacific NW, and New Mexico.  Lavender thrives in hot, sunny locations in a variety of soils, as long as they are well drained.   You can amend clay soils by creating a mounded 6” deep layer of “dirty rock”.  Avoid using sand or gravel as an amendment because they can actually cause drainage problems.

 

Two kinds of lavender that are grown at Mystic River Lavender are lavandula angustifolia (commonly known as English lavender) and lavandula x intermedia (known as lavandin), a hybrid of lavandula angustifolia and lavandula latifolia.   Lavandins are usually larger plants that bloom only once in the late summer.  Different cultivars of English lavender and lavandins produce flowers ranging from light blue to dark purple, as well as pink and white.  If you visit Mystic River Lavender, you will see multiple varieties of blue/purple lavender, along with several varieties of white lavender.

 

Choose English lavender plants that have been propagated from cuttings, rather than from seed, in order to insure consistent size and color, bloom time, and other characteristics. Typically, English lavender cultivars range from 12 – 30” tall and 18 – 24” wide.   Since lavandins are sterile, they can only be propagated from cuttings and are often much taller than English lavender.   They are usually 18 – 36” tall and 24 – 36” side.   When planting lavender, space plants far enough apart to allow good air circulation, based on the mature size of the cultivar.

 

When growing lavender plants in SW Virginia, be sure to use stone mulch – wood mulch will cause the plants to remain too moist to survive.  Just be sure to keep mulch away from the crown of the plant.  Too much moisture will result in plant decline and may make the plant succumb to soil disease or root rot.

 

The best time to harvest lavender is between 9am – noon (early morning after the dew has dried), once a few of the flower buds have opened.  For drying, try to cut stems as long as possible, bundling 50 – 75 stems with rubber bands so that you can hang them to dry in a cool, dark place with good airflow.  Janice and Keith dry their lavender in their garage, with the windows covered, and fans and a de-humidifier running.  Larger bundles may mold, so you can always carefully combine smaller dried bundles to make one larger dried bundle.  Or, simply enjoy a bouquet of fresh lavender.

 

After your primary harvest, there may be a second, smaller late summer flowering in some varieties.  A second harvest can be combined with annual pruning, once plants are established.  Removing any flowers that occur during this time will help insure more prolific flowering next year.  Because lavender flowers on new growth, Janice prefers pruning at the end of August or early September.  She recommends pruning approximately one third of the top of the plant, never below 1” above old wood.  This will stimulate growth, keep the plant from becoming too open and woody, and will help insure more prolific flowering next year.

 

With a little effort, in a few years you’ll be able to enjoy the scent of your own, home-grown lavender.