Well, it has been a while, but here it is our latest edition of the Orchid Ezine ©®  The hurricanes last year put a whole new perspective on life.  You never know when disaster will strike and you are never fully prepared for it when it does come knocking.  All we can do is pray and hope there is a rainbow at the end.  I hope you and yours are in good health and our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Happy Growing,
Fred Williams

Dendrobiums of the Philippines

The Philippines is rich with native Dendrobiums.  It is home to about 103 different species.  The Philippines are actually a group over 7,100 islands.  It is a country of rugged mountains, volcanoes, and fertile plains in the valleys of the mountains.  There are 19 active volcanoes and 180 dormant ones.
  Because of this terrain, there are several different climate zones.  You have the lowland rain forest, mangrove swamp forests,

lower montane forest, pine forest, and lower montane mist forest.  In each of these zones you will find plants from the genus Dendrobium.  Most, but not all of the Philippine Dendrobiums experience a wet season followed by a cooler dry season.  The plants at the higher elevations do not seem to have distinct seasons  as they receive daily mists and the area is dimly lit, wet, and mossy.  To understand how to grow the different species one must understand

where the plants occur in nature.  We will never duplicate all the different climates for the species exactly, but we do try and give them the minimum requirements to make them flourish and bloom in cultivation.  By understanding the original environment, we can better understand why the plants need a rest in the fall and winter before blooming in the spring, or why some have to stay moist all the time instead of drying out in between waterings.

Inside this issue: