Good Morning High Elevation House

Early morning in the Tropical High Elevation House --it's one of my favorite refuges. The air is cool and the sound of the waterfall is tranquil. After a hair-raising commute in Atlanta traffic, it is soothing. Like being in Ecuador again.

Fallen logs are a common sight if you are hiking in an Ecuadorean forest. They sometimes carry a treasure load of epiphytic plants--orchids, bromeliads, begonias, gesners--plants that you normally see only through binoculars. To achieve the fallen-log effect in the HEH, we selected a 7' driftwood branch, mounted epiphytic orchids on it, and placed it at an angle in front of the waterfall. The base rests on the stream bank and the tip leans toward the face of the waterfall. After a year, the orchids are established and starting to flower. This month four species of Maxillaria are flowering simultaneously.

Maxillaria lehmannii, with the regal white flower grows as an epiphyte in wet montane cloud forests in western Ecuador and Peru. To its left, is the adorable Maxillaria coccinea, with coral flowers. It grows in Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil and the Caribbean at 500 to 1000 meters. It doesn't seem to mind the cool temperatures in the HEH.

Closer to the base is Maxillaria c.f splendens, with nodding elongated flowers. M. splendens comes from Peru, where it grows as an epiphyte at 2000 meters elevation.

And finally, my mystery Maxillaria, source unknown, nicely embedded in the moss carpet that is overtaking our branch.

Don't forget to visit the Tropical High Elevation House when you are visiting the Fuqua Orchid Center!

Openings, Week of November 28

Last week brought the tremendously successful opening of Garden Lights, Holiday Nights. But that wasn't the only opening at ABG last week.

Maxillaria scalariformis

Opening in the Tropical High Elevation House starting last week is the Panamanian orchid, Maxillaria scalariformis. Opera lovers familiar with the famous Milanese opera house La Scala will know that scala means ladder, and thus the epithet scalariformis refers to the ladder like arrangement of the leaves on the stems.

Of the twenty or so species of Maxillaria in the HEH, Maxillaria scalarformis is one of my favorites. The flowers and the leaves are suffused with a lovely deep rose blush. So gorgeous.
We received our Maxillaria scalariformis about four years ago. Clearly this plant deserved a prominent spot at eye level. Since there was no room on any of our epiphyte trees at the time I simply wrapped the root ball in a mixture of moss and tree fern fiber and wedged it in a rocky crevice where it has been growing happily ever since.

Phaius flavus x P. tankervillae

Phaius are very much underutilized in conservatory landscapes in my opinion. Like Peristeria elata (the Dove Orchid) and Warrea warreana, two other tropical terrestrial orchids, it makes a very striking back-of-the-border element, with bold upright spikes that reach 4' in height.
Phaius are among the most forgiving of orchids--they grow vigorously under intermediate to warm conditions in just about any good quality soilless medium. The only serious strike against them is that they are very attractive to scale insects. Phaius tankervillae (the Nun's Orchid) and various intergeneric and interspecific Phaius hybrids are readily available in the retail trade. The hybrid photographed above in the Orchid Display House has the most extraordinary foliage--in the lower right hand corner you can see the glowing yellow spots on the deep green leaves.

You can enjoy both of these plants in flower for the next couple of weeks.