Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, so far it hasn't produced any seed pods. Same thing last year, which was the first year it bloomed. I'm guessing that it is sterile.
What about the pollen? So far I haven't seen any. But maybe that's because the hummingbirds seem to visit this Aloe every 5 minutes.
This Aloe sure does produce a lot of offshoots though. Right now the main branch is around 4' tall and its one head is just starting to become two. The branch still needs to be propped up but I'm hoping that it will thicken with age and then small orchids and Tillandsias can be attached to it.
Here's a pic of Myrmecophila tibicinis attached to my Aloe thraskii...
Scadoxus and I visited Live Art Plantscapes this past Monday and saw some really neat plants. We learned that the nursery is giving away 150 queen palms because they don't have the space for them in their new location. The palms are in 30" boxes and are 20 feet tall. If you want any you would have to pick them up in Northridge by December 31.
This last weekend I attended a patio peek that my friend Scadoxus participated in. I'm really glad that I did! I saw some nice patios/plants and met some pleasant plant people.
Here's one plant that caught my attention...
It's a Trachelium (Blue Throatwort). I'm particularly interested in it because it readily volunteers. One of my favorite volunteering plants is Ruellia brevifolia...
Earlier in the year Scadoxus gave me Ruellia elegans which she had received from her two friends. They had purchased it from Annie's Annuals. Coincidentally, while in the Trachelium patio, I randomly met Scadoxus' two friends for the first time. They mentioned Annie's Annuals, I mentioned the Ruellia, and we put two and two together. We uncovered a hidden connection.
I think that R. brevifolia is a warmer grower/bloomer while R. elegans is a cooler bloomer/grower. The elegans has been blooming non-stop while the brevifolia hasn't started blooming yet. When it starts to bloom, I'd like to try and cross the two species in order to hopefully create a hercuthermal hybrid (grows/blooms in a wider range of temps).
Here's something that you don't see everyday...
It's a humongous Staghorn fern (Platycerium bifurcatum) growing directly on a brick wall.
Here's a really nice epiphyte...
It's either a bromeliad or a Tillandsia. I'm guessing that it's a Tillandsia, but I could be wrong. I'm also guessing that it's monocarpic. This would mean that it wouldn't produce any offshoots after it dies. Ugh, I'm not a fan of monocarpic plants. Hopefully this one is not monocarpic because I'd sure love to have an offshoot! The vine with the pink flowers is Mandevilla. In front of it is a very inviting couch. It's wonderful when the lines between "inside" and "outside" are blurred.
Here's another really nice epiphyte...
Maybe it's Anthurium schlechtendalii? It's being propped up by some cherubins. The lady statue, the owner of the Anthurium, and me in the mirror are all interestingly arranged. The three of us are facing in different directions... just like in a Hal Hartley movie.
Here's a tree fern...
Sorry about the blurry photo. What's remarkable about this tree fern is that it's developing several heads. It's not every day that you see a multi-headed tree fern. More heads are better than one!
Here's a multi-headed tree Aloe...
Wow! Wow! Wow! This is by far the best Aloe arborescens that I've ever seen in person. I'm pretty sure that it's arborescens. It is one of the most commonly grown Aloes here in California. For some reason, despite its name, all the ones that I've seen are more like shrubs than trees. But in nature you can see some distinctly tree like forms... for example. Sometimes orchids will grow on them.
The Aloe in the photo should definitely have one, or two, orchids growing on it. Then it would be a phorobana. Here's one orchid that sometimes grows on Aloe arborescens in nature...
A few years ago I attached this Mystacidium capense to a potted Bougainvillea. Unfortunately, the medium in the pot was too barky and the Bougainvillea didn't make it. In retrospect, I should have used a more gritty medium. The plan was to have the white flowered orchid and the red flowered Bougainvillea bloom at the same time. It would have been a lovely living bouquet. Here's an example in nature.
Another great epiphyte for the Aloe would be a Tillandsia...
This Tillandsia kirschneckii is attached to my potted Ficus rubiginosa (Rusty Leaf Fig).
Because epiphytes can grow on other plants, and even sometimes on walls, they are very useful for maximizing the diversity, interest and charm of small spaces. The challenge is choosing the right ones.
One idea that I shared with one of the organizers of the patio peak is to create a plant society for the plant people in the area. This way all the members can benefit from each other's different plant knowledge. Plus, they can share plants and seeds with each other.
Another idea that I had is that it would be nice to see other people's photos of the patios. I wasn't the only person taking photos. Personally I think Flickr is a useful platform for sharing photos.
While it would be nice to see other people's photos of the patios, it would be even nicer to see their valuations. This could be accomplished by using donations to judge the patios. People would have the opportunity to "donate vote" for their favorite patios. The money that was raised would go to a good cause... such as helping to transform local schools into botanical gardens. Of course some of the money could also be awarded to the people with the top patios.
Everybody who toured the patios was given a helpful map beforehand. It was essentially a treasure map... but there was no indication of each treasure's value. Would the map be even more helpful if everyone could see and know the value of each treasure?
When a bee visits a patch of flowers, she uses dancing to communicate its value to the other bees. This creates a dynamic and interactive treasure map of the flower patches in the area. The more valuable a flower patch is, the more bees that will visit it. I think it would be so cool if we could also see this treasure map. Naturally, if somebody's garden in our area spiked in value, we would be very curious to learn the cause.
No bee can be in two places at once, and the same is true for us humans. This is why it's so useful to be able to communicate to each other the value of our discoveries.
Here's where we need to make so much more progress...
1. There should be lots of really nice orchids that can easily grow from seed.
2. There should be lots of smallish tree Aloes that we can attach miniature epiphytes to.
Many, if not most, of the typical reed-stem Epidendrums can easily be grown from seed... no flasking required! The problem is that reed-stems don't usually make the best epiphytes. So the challenge is to find/make crosses between reed-stems and other orchids in order to find the best crosses that can easily grow from seed.
One exciting cross is Kirchara Georgie (Cattlianthe Golden Wax x Epidendrum O'Brienianum). I received it last Fall from Fred Clarke of Sunset Valley Orchids...
There was a new shoot starting to develop when I received it. I potted the plant in pure pumice and placed it outside. Over the winter the new shoot matured and produced a flower spike. I'm happy that the flowers developed on the new shoot (as opposed to developing on a shoot from the previous year).
The goal for Aloes is to make some really nice hosts for smallish orchids and other epiphytes. In the video you can see a cross that's possibly between Aloe bainesii (the largest tree Aloe) and Aloe distans (not even a small tree Aloe). It's a really neat cross... the trunk is good sized but there needs to be more branches. Plus, it's a little on the slow side.
Does anybody recognize the Aloe that might be a dichotoma or ramosissima hybrid? It's also nice but too slow.
The Aloe tenuior hybrid is relatively fast but so far it falls over. All of the potential fathers are tree Aloes... and their stems do tend to thicken with age. You can read more about the hybrid here...
Towards the end of the video you can see a phorobana that consists of a Sophronitis cernua flowering on a potted Ficus rubiginosa. The Ficus is fast and grows easily from large cuttings. The drawback is that its flowers aren't even a little showy. So it's possible that we can make an Aloe that's a better host. S. cernua is a really neat miniature orchid that grows great outdoors year around here in Southern California. The drawback is that it can't easily grow from seed.
There's so much room for improvement! Let's pool our resources and make tons of progress!
I really love plants. The first thing that I did when I moved into my house was replace the front lawn with a wide variety of super interesting drought tolerant plants. Why should that space only have one plant when it can have many plants?! In economic terms, the opportunity cost of the lawn was way too high.
The awesomeness of having more interesting plants in any given space is the basic premise of "phorobana". A phorobana is any potted plant (ie bonsai) that has epiphytes growing on it. For the sake of facilitating communication I took the liberty of creating the word "phorobana" (phorophyte + ikebana). Plus, having a unique word for the idea makes it easier to search for and find relevant material.
It's a basic fact of life that space is always limited. A larger house means a smaller garden. More lawn means less biodiversity. The beauty of phorobanas is that they facilitate biodiversity. They put more treasure on a map.
There's usually quite a bit of treasure at plant shows. However, just like gardens, shows have a limited amount of space. Check out this photo that I took at a plant show...
As you can see, the orchid is suspended in mid-air. Taking advantage of vertical space frees up horizontal space for more treasure.
The Uncarina has vertical space that could be occupied by the Dockrillia. If the same person already owned both plants, then adorning the Uncarina with the orchid would create room on the map for more treasure. If, on the other hand, the orchid was purchased for this purpose, then more treasure would be added to the map without sacrificing any horizontal space.
The Uncarina and the Dockrillia are both great ideas. Would combining these two great ideas result in an even greater idea?
Peanut butter is a great idea... so is jelly... and so is bread. Most people would agree that the combination of these three ideas is greater than any of these ideas on their own. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
With all the different ingredients in the world... the possibilities are endless. This is just as true for phorobanas as it is for dishes. The orchid family alone has more than 20,000 really diverse epiphytic species. Not to mention all the hybrids.
How long will it take to find the phorobana equivalent of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? It's a numbers game. Finding the lovely outliers in less time depends on more people creating more combinations of epiphytes and potted plants. Progress depends on difference. More difference means more progress.
Right now plant shows are the equivalent of eating peanut butter, jelly and bread separately. These ingredients are good... but they are so much better together! Yes, at ikebana shows there are arrangements that people can "taste". Even though the arrangements can be aesthetically pleasing, they aren't sustainable or informative. But imagine that you are at a phorobana show and you see a Dockrillia happily growing on an Uncarina. If you're familiar with the orchid but unfamiliar with its host, then you can reasonably guess that their requirements are somewhat similar. In this case the association would be informative.
Phorobana shows will be far more informative and interesting than regular plant shows. To help support this conclusion I'll show you some of my epiphytically enhanced potted plants...
Phorobanas should be on everybody's treasure map! Nobody should overlook this valuable idea! The question is... just how valuable is it? Does it matter?
In this video a street vendor is selling artwork by Banksy. The artwork is priced far below market value... but the vendor doesn't inform anybody that it's original art by Banksy. It's the closest thing you'll see to people walking past $100 dollars bills just sitting in the middle of the sidewalk.
Imagine the equivalent scenario with some hunters and gatherers. Of course they are hungry... yet they simply walk past some plants that are loaded with perfectly ripe squash.
In some of the older orchid articles there are accounts of workers in tropical orchards regularly removing the "parasites" growing on the trees. They would rake the precious plants into huge piles and burn them.
Our behavior is far less beneficial when we don't know how valuable things are to other people. In order to maximize beneficial behavior it's necessary to share and learn the value of things.
When we go to a plant show/sale we might find numerous plants that we'd be really happy to have. We can tell a vendor... "I really love that plant!" But usually the vendor doesn't just give it to us. This is because talk is cheap. It doesn't cost us anything to simply say that we really love something. In order to prove that we truly love something, we have to be willing to spend our money on it. If we are willing to pay the price for the plant then the vendor will be happy to give it to us.
Spending our money helps to improve the treasure maps of vendors. The accuracy of their maps determines our benefit! We sure don't benefit if vendors overlook plants that we value. So we use our money to inform vendors which plants are more valuable/needed/wanted/important/relevant. Plant sales give us the immensely wonderful opportunity to superficially ("I love that plant!") and substantially ("I'll buy that plant") participate in the prioritization process. Because everyone is allowed to participate in this process, it makes it far more likely that any given shopper will be as happy as a kid in a candy store.
Perhaps this might seem pretty obvious... yet plant shows don't give everyone the opportunity to substantially participate in the prioritization process. And neither do plant forums! This forum is packed with products but we really don't substantially participate in the prioritization process. Same thing on Flickr... and Youtube... and Netflix. We're allowed to superficially participate in the prioritization process by commenting on and/or rating the different products... but we don't substantially participate. In the absence of substantial participation... the true value of the products is unknown... which means...
1. we overlook valuable products
2. less valuable products are supplied
3. we're less happy in the candy store than we should be
For Netflix the solution is simple. Subscribers should be given the option to earmark their fees to their favorite content. They'd still have complete access to all the content but they'd also have the opportunity to substantially participate in the prioritization process.
A while back on Netflix I watched BBC's documentary "Wild Arabia". In one episode I was quite surprised to see a branch that was covered in epiphytes...
The tree is in the Dhofar mountains in the country of Oman. I really didn't know that Oman has epiphytes! Did you?
Unfortunately, the scene was way too short. I wanted to see and learn so much more about these epiphytes. If Netflix had given me the opportunity to earmark my subscription dollars to specific scenes, then I definitely would have earmarked quite a few to this one. I'm guessing that there wouldn't be too many other people in the same boat as me. But how many subscription dollars would subscribers earmark to shows about plants? I don't know. Neither does Netflix. It's easy enough to find out though.
This system of substantial and specific feedback is applicable to all organizations that have subscribers. But the same system can also work with donors.
When the students in my friend's 4th grade class donate their pennies to their Book Dept, they can use them to help determine the order (relative importance) of their favorite books. When they donate their pennies to their Communication Dept, they can use them to determine the order of their favorite blog entries. This same system could be used for forum threads.
We'd all have the option to donate money to the forum in order to help determine the order of our favorite threads. Not only would our donations support the forum, but they'd also bring the most valuable threads to each other's attention... "Hey! Here's some treasure! Please don't overlook it!"
For all intents and purposes... each member of this forum is in the same tribe! :) We probably don't have to worry about any of our members overlooking squash... but how many new books, articles, blog entries, threads, videos and events are there every day? None of us has the time to read, watch and attend everything. So it's way too easy to miss many valuable things. This is why it's so important to appreciate that our tribe, as a group, can read, watch and attend far more things than any single member of the tribe can. Our tribe, as a group, has far more eyeballs, ears, hands and feet than any single member of the tribe has. Most importantly... our tribe, as a group, has far more brains than any single member of the tribe has. As a group, our tribe can cover far more ground and gather/process far more information than any single member of the tribe can. But in order to realize the incredible potential of our collective body and brain... we need to use our money to improve each other's treasure maps. When each member of our tribe has a far better treasure map, then every single one of us will make far more informed decisions which will improve our treasure maps even more. Our tribe will be the smartest and most powerful and most influential tribe on the internet. We will win the internet. At least until other tribes figure out the secret to our success.
Think about it though... if it's beneficial for each and every member of our tribe to use our money to improve each other's treasure maps... then imagine how beneficial it will be when each and every member of the human race uses their money to improve each other's treasure maps. Then we will be the smartest and most powerful and most influential species in the universe. We will win the universe.
Admittedly, for all I know, some other species has already won the universe. But I do know that phorobanas wonderfully illustrate the idea of a map having more treasure (epiphytic enrichment).
Here's a photo that I took earlier in the year of my very first phorobana...
The Dendrobium x delicatum was blooming.
Does my phorobana look crowded? Well yeah, it's crowded with coolness! This relatively small Moreton Bay Fig (Ficus macrophylla) is carrying way more than its fair share of precious biodiversity. One very tiny passenger is Cleisostoma scolopendrifolium...
Epiphytic enrichment is nicely described in this passage about an aquarium...
The condensed reef's extraordinary hues and alien life forms cast a New Age vibe. To stand in front of this rectangular bottle is to stand on a harmonic node. Here are more varieties of living creatures crammed into a square meter than anywhere else on the planet. Life does not get any denser. The remarkable natural richness of the coral reef has been squeezed further into the hyper-natural richness of a synthetic reef. - Kevin Kelly, Out of Control
Everylittle corner of the world should be packed with treasure. Every space on every person's map should be packed with treasure. Everybody should be surrounded by valuable opportunities. Everybody should clearly recognize all the valuable opportunities that are available to them. Therefore, everybody should use their money to help each other clearly see all the valuable opportunities.
Ok, so we've covered quite a bit of conceptual ground. Next we can consider some of the practical aspects... such as sources for epiphytes/hosts and matching them.
The endlessly fascinating challenge is matching epiphytes and hosts! Logically they should have similar cultural requirements. You probably don't want to attach a Dracula orchid to a Golden Barrel Cactus. Maybe the easiest way to culturally match hosts and epiphytes is to learn which hosts epiphytes naturally grow on in nature.
Here's a photo of a Cabbage tree (Cussonia spicata) in nature with an orchid (Polystachya ottoniana) growing on it...
Her C. spicata is missing a P. ottoniana and my P. ottoniana is missing a C. spicata! Should she give me her Cussonia or should I give her my Polystachya? :D Perhaps the rule is that ornaments are gifted to the owner of the Christmas tree. :)
There are a few relevant cultural details to point out. The bark on a relatively young Cussonia clearly doesn't have nearly as much texture as a mature tree. Also, when the Polystachya grows on the Cussonia in nature, even though they get roughly the same amount of water... I'm guessing that it's a lot more humid there in South Africa than here in Southern California. These two differences (texture, humidity) can be balanced out by giving the orchid some moss and/or more water. If watering frequency is increased then the Cussonia's drainage also needs to be increased (ie more gravel/pumice).
What's rather fascinating about Polystachya ottoniana is its distribution...
This is a map of South Africa. The blue area represents the Mediterranean climate and the black squares represent documented occurrences of Polystachya ottoniana. As far as I know this is the closest that any epiphytic orchid species comes to being Mediterranean. So maybe here in California it might actually take advantage of our winter rain and not be so bothered by somewhat less frequent watering in summer?
It's pretty easy to match hosts and epiphytes based on their natural associations. But you can also match hosts and epiphytes based on their natural habitats. Since California is so dry I'm especially interested in epiphytes that occur in seasonally dry tropical forests. On Flickr I created a gallery of orchids growing on cactus and other succulent plants.
A couple of those photos are of Zelenkoa onusta growing on a cactus in the US Botanic Garden conservatory. How cool is that?! This small orchid naturally grows on cactus in Panama, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Not only does it have nice yellow flowers but it also has really neat pseudobulbs...
Another really nice smaller orchid from a drier habitat is Laelia sincorana...
In bright light this orchid will have roundish pseudobulbs and short succulent leaves. I refer to these type of orchids as teapot orchids (short and stout). In its native country of Brazil, Laelia sincorana naturally grows on Vellozia species. Vellozias are so very awesome! Quite a few different epiphytes grow on arborescent Vellozias in nature because their fibrous branches are especially good at holding moisture. It's a real shame that they are so scarce here in Southern California!
Encyclia pyriformis is another of my favorite teapot orchids...
Nature makes the best ornaments! Here are some pictures of potential hosts...
Not sure which plant this is... Dracaena draco or arborea?
Dracaena marginata is fairly common and can be grown from relatively large cuttings. Here's a relevant passage about growing hosts from substantial cuttings...
In completely tropical climates, where the temperature never falls below 55F., the trees could be placed anywhere in the garden or patio. This assumes that severe winds or very dry desert air are not a factor. In such tropical settings, larger trees could also be used. In temperate climates both the trees and the orchids will require a greenhouse or its equivalent. Anyone with a large greenhouse could plant one or more trees directly in the ground. This can be seen, in a well-done fashion, at The Marie Selby Botanical Garden in Sarasota, Florida. There are several good-sized Crescentia trees covered with orchids in their display house. Most people will probably prefer to maintain semi-dwarf trees in large pots. These might be mounted on dollies for mobility, if desired. It may be necessary from time to time to air layer new trees as the old ones become too root-bound and lanky. Probably all of the trees listed will air layer rather easily. Most will also root easily as cuttings under mist. Some, such as Calliandra, Erythrina, Codiaeum, Acnistus, Tabebuia and Crescentia, will root without mist from large cuttings, even up to fence post size. Many of the trees have showy or fragrant flowers, some have attractive edible fruit and several have unusual foliage colors. Any can be grown from seed if it is available and you have the patience. - John Beckner, Host Trees for Cultivated Orchids
Here are some other plants that can be grown from substantial cuttings...
Aloes
Aralias
Bougainvilleas
Cordylines
Cup of Gold
Ficus
Grapes
Moringa
Pachiras
Plumerias
Pomegranate
Yuccas
My friend sent me a photo of this Ficus rubiginosa growing epiphytically...
Most likely this Ficus is going to be chopped off and thrown away. A much better use for it would be for a phorobana. So I told my friend that he should ask the owner for it.
From my perspective, the one group of plants with the greatest phorobana potential are the Aloes...
This is Aloe Hercules (barberae x dichotoma) in a SoCal nursery. I have no idea how this one ended up with so many low branches. But it would be awesome if all the branches were adorned with teapot orchids.
Hercules doesn't usually branch so frequently at a low height. So it doesn't strike me as a particularly good candidate for phorobanas. A cross with far more potential was made by Karen Zimmerman...
This is a cross between Aloe ramosissima and tongaensis. Aloe ramosissima tends to have numerous low branches that are substantial enough for teapot orchids. Unfortunately... it has a few issues. It's a really slow grower, it doesn't grow so easily from cuttings and is fairly prone to rot. Aloe tongaensis is somewhere in between barberae and ramosissima in terms of branch quantity and height. It doesn't have the same issues as ramosissima and might be one of the best Aloe species for phorobanas.
The question is... is Karen's cross even better for phorobanas than tongaensis? I'd sure love to find out.
One Aloe species that is rather interesting is Aloe tenuior. It's a relatively fast grower that produces several upright stems that are around 2-3' tall. It doesn't seem to have an issue with rot. Plus, it grows easily from cuttings and when a stem is beheaded, it will produce one or more new heads. The only real drawback is that the stems aren't substantial enough for teapot orchids.
A few years ago I pollinated my tenuior with pollen from a bunch of different tree Aloes. I didn't keep track of which pollen went into which flower. But now I have four Aloes from the cross. They aren't quite blooming size but I'm pretty sure that at least three of them are hybrids. At first I guessed that they all had the same father but now I'm guessing otherwise.
Here's a photo that I took in November 2015 of one of the largest seedlings next to Aloe tenuior...
At this stage I started suspecting that this seedling and a few others might be hybrids rather than selfings. Six months later I took this photo...
Aloe tenuior is in the back. The seedlings all got taller and heftier... and then slowly flopped over. It was like watching a slow motion trainwreck! Earlier this year I potted three of them up and staked them...
The Aloe on the far right might be a cross between ramosissima and dichotoma. It's substantial enough for teapot orchids but super slow. Aloe tenuior is on the bottom right.
Here's a recent photo...
I should have used taller stakes! The plant on the left is one of my hybrids. It has a stem that is 2x as thick as tenuior's stem. To the right of it is tenuior. On its right is one of my hybrids that has a stem that is 4x as thick. On the far right is my hybrid with a stem that is 3x as thick. The tops of the stems are thicker than the bases. I'm hoping that the bases will thicken with age and then they'll be able to support the weight of the stems. In any case, the tops of the stems can be cut off and potted. Hopefully the headless stems will produce new heads like tenuior does.
The hybrid on the left is by far the slowest. The hybrid in the middle is by far the largest, which is interesting because it was the runt of the litter. It was so small that I didn't even bother including it in the first two photos. The hybrid on the right is by far the fastest.
What's fascinating is that the middle hybrid only has one basal shoot, the hybrid on the right has a gazillion and the hybrid on the left has several. My tenuior produces a few basal shoots. Here are all the potential fathers...
Aloe africana Aloe arborescens Aloe dichotoma
AloeHercules Aloe tongaensis Aloe thraskii Aloe vaombe
The only potential father that produces numerous basal shoots is arborescens. I've read, and heard, that it tends to be dominant in its hybrids. None of my hybrids resemble arborescens. Honestly I was somewhat surprised that any of the fathers were compatible with tenuior. They are superficially quite different. Aloe tenuior and similar species have recently been moved into their own genus... Aloiampelos. So all my crosses are intergeneric.
The other day I gave my friend Fernando cuttings of my two most prolific tenuior hybrids. It was the first time that I've shared cuttings. The offshoots are only now getting large enough to share. It's interesting to participate in the very first dissemination of a new plant. So far the hybrid with the least offshoots is spreading slower than the hybrids with more offshoots. I'm guessing that this will continue to be the case. It stands to reason that the shareability of a plant will significantly influence its proliferation. Here in Southern California, Aloe arborescens is a contender for the most common Aloe. It's probably not a coincidence that it produces abundant offshoots that can be easily cut and rooted. Aloe vera might be more common and it does produce offshoots, but they have to be dug up. Its prevalence is most likely the result of its medicinal properties.
I'm not sure how long it will take my hybrids to reach blooming size. I'd definitely like to see their flowers... but I'm far more curious to see their mature form. How much phorobana potential will they have? There's always room for improvement. It would be really cool to try and cross my hybrids with Karen's hybrids.
Hopefully more people will hybridize Aloes with the goal of creating varieties that make awesome phorobanas. Kinda like people trying to build better birdhouses.
I'd sure love to see lots of Aloe phorobanas! Wouldn't you? Or would you love to see other things? In all cases it's unfortunate when we overlook valuable things. This is why it's so important for us to easily improve each other's treasure maps.
Six years ago at the Los Angeles Fern and Exotic plant show my buddy Norm received a blue ribbon and a plaque for his awesome plant (Tillandsia australis). Yesterday on eBay orchidmate received $141.99 for his awesome plant (Laelia anceps x Encyclia vitellina 'Blood Orange')...
What would happen if everybody who attended a plant show could use their money to judge the plants?
Here's a recent pic of an orchid (Microcoelia exilis) that I entered into the LA Fern and Exotic plant show a few years back...
It's just a big mess of roots! I don't remember if it received a ribbon. Personally, I don't really care about ribbons. My primary motivation was to introduce people to an awesome plant.
Pretend that you're at the show and you see my orchid. Do you think it's awesome? If so, then you could take your judging form out and write down the plant's number and your valuation. There wouldn't be a minimum valuation. It could be as small as a penny.
The next plant that you see at the show is my phorobana...
It's a big mess of roots and leaves! It's a bunch of different epiphytes growing on a Ficus macrophylla (Moreton Bay fig) in a pot. You lean in for a closer look and spot a tiny orchid in bloom...
It's a Cleisostoma scolopendrifolium orchid nestled within the canes of a Dendrobium delicatum orchid. The other two epiphytes in the vicinity are Dischidia cleistantha and Microgramma vacciniifolia. Finding the tiny orchid is just like finding an Easter Egg.
Do you think the phorobana is awesome? If so, then you'd write down its number and your valuation. After you had judged the plants, you'd turn in your form. The clerk would add up your valuations and you'd donate the money. Ideally there would be a real-time updated webpage where you could see all the plants sorted by their valuations.
Initially I figured that the society wouldn't take a cut. I thought that all the money should go to the people who had earned it. But then my friend Scadoxus pointed out that people could just spend ridiculous amounts of money on their own plants in order to win. I hadn't thought of that. Two heads are better than one! Personally, I wouldn’t prohibit people from valuating their own plants. If you bring in 10 plants, then I would want to know how you would divide your money between them. But it’s probably a good idea though for the society to take a cut. Ideally the society should get all the money that you spend on your own plants. But then you might just give your money to your friends to spend on your plants.
I'm guessing that the most common objection to this idea will be something like... "Why in the world would anybody want to pay people to do something that they are already doing for free???"
The Fern and Exotic plant show is great because it features a wide variety of plants. But I don't equally like the plants. I don't think that all the plants in the show are equally exotic or exciting or awesome or rare or fascinating or unusual or interesting or important or impressive or drool-worthy. Yes, it's very easy for me to simply tell Norm that I think his plant is super cool. This is true. What makes it so easy is that I know him.
Let's say that you see this Hydnophytum formicarum in a cactus and succulent show...
It's the first time that you've ever seen an ant-plant in a cactus and succulent show, or any show for that matter. The name of the exhibitor is next to the plant but you don't know who she is. If your valuation of her plant is $0.25 cents, are you going to track her down and give her a high-five? Probably not. But if you have a valuation form with you, and you would like to see more ant-plants in shows, then you might as well write down your valuation. It's certainly easy enough to do. Judging plants with money makes it easier for more people to give and receive more positive feedback.
What about negative feedback? If I think that somebody's plant is incredibly boring, then I'm probably not going to tell them. Especially if I don't know them. It's certainly true that I wouldn't be able to write down a negative valuation on my form. But if we all had the opportunity to use our money to judge the plants, then everybody would see everybody's valuations of the plants. This means that we would all clearly see and know the disparity in value between all the plants...
Tillandsia australis: $10.75
Hydnophytum formicarum: $9.97
L. anceps x E. vitellina: $7.24
Microcoelia exilis: $1.32
Ficus phorobana: $0.55
Geranium: $0.15
Ivy: $0.01
Which is more important, the amounts in relative or absolute terms? I can see that my M. exilis is relatively more valuable than my phorobana so I'd know that people are more interested in the leafless orchid. In terms of absolute amounts, the $1.32 might be enough to encourage me to bring the leafless orchid the next year. But because the phorobana is so much heavier, it's doubtful that the $0.55 would be enough to encourage me to bring it again. In all cases the benefit should be greater than the cost.
Personally, I've only shown my plants once... or twice... several years ago. I haven't done it since because it was too much work. Which is the same thing as saying that the reward was too small.
My friend Scadoxus went to a Begonia show this past Saturday. She said that it was pretty terrible. She didn't enter any plants into the show because it was too much work (too small a reward). However, she did see Norm there. I don't know if he exhibited any plants, but he certainly sold some... including a few to Scadoxus.
Every plant show that I've ever attended has also included a plant sale. The plants in the show area are judged by a small group of people. The plants in the sales area are judged by a much larger group of people. Are more judges better than less judges?
I accept that it's entirely possible that I'm overestimating the importance of phorobanas. So if I'm the only judge, then my delusion will fully skew the results. What if another judge is added? He probably won't also overestimate the importance of phorobanas. If he correctly estimates their importance then my delusion will only halfway skew the results. If he underestimates their importance, then his delusion will diminish, or even cancel out, my own.
Therefore, more judges are always better than less judges. The more judges there are, the less impact that delusions, misperceptions, craziness and biases will have on the results. Filtering out more fantasy brings us closer to reality.
It's certainly possible though that everybody else underestimates the importance of phorobanas. But this is hardly an argument for having less judges. If I'm the only person who correctly estimates the importance of phorobanas, chances are slim that I'll be included in a small group of judges. However, when everybody can be a judge, then at least my correct estimate will have some influence on the results. My influence might be vanishingly small but that's still better than nothing.
In all cases more heads are better than less heads. Voila! Please use your head to judge the idea of allowing everybody to use their money to judge plants at shows.
I recently joined this forum to share a link in this awesome thread to some photos of orchids growing on cactus/succulents. Since I'm here I figured that I might as well subject you to more of my plant on plant propaganda.
How many of you grow plants epiphytically? I already know the answer...not enough of you! Everybody should grow plants on other plants. Perhaps the most accessible case I can make for doing so is that you'd increase the chances that visitors to your garden would take more photos. In technical terms...it would improve the value to space ratio. In simpler terms...visitors would have more reason to linger longer.
For example....here are a couple galleries of accidentally epiphytic cacti...one and two. As you can see there's lots of photos of cacti growing on other plants. These accidental epiphytes improved the value to space ratio. We know this is true because people lingered longer and took photos that they wouldn't otherwise have taken. The value to space ratio would have been improved even more if those accidentally epiphytic cactus had orchids, bromeliads or Tillandsias growing on them.
Last week I attended a cactus and succulent show at the LA Arboretum. Guess how many of the entries had epiphytes attached to them? Not a single one. A few weeks earlier I attended an orchid show at the Huntington. Guess how many of the entries were growing on cactus/succulents? Not a single one.
If I had to predict the future...I'd guess that the lines between plant shows will be blurred. If people only had time to go to one show...they'd pick the one that gave them the most bang for their buck. This will be the show that has epiphytes growing on potted plants. Visitors would linger longer in front of each entry...admiring the epiphyte...or the phorophyte...or both. And because each entry would have broader appeal...it's a given that more photos would be taken. Each additional photo taken and shared online would help provide the show with more publicity.
The question is...will this future happen sooner or later? Personally I hope that it happens sooner! I expect great things to happen as a result of this cross-pollination.
Not quite sure what this "holistic" show would be called. The best word that I've been able to come up with is "phorobana". There's always room for improvement though so if there happen to be any wordsmiths out there feel free to throw some other suggestions out there. One qualification is that new words should meet the google alert standard. Basically you should be able to subscribe to a google alert for the word and not be inundated with irrelevant results.
So...does anybody have any questions? Like...is Aloe ramosissima a suitable host for Angraecum aloifolium? I don't know the answer...but I'd sure like to find out! For the past couple years I've been growing several dozen miniature epiphytes on a Crassula Gollum. The Crassula has excellent drainage so I can water the epiphytes with decent frequency.
Clearly they aren't all equally suitable to grow inside and be everybody's phorophyte. But that's what experimenting is all about. At the last show I went to a random lady said, "if you're not killing plants...then you're not stretching yourself as a gardener".
Which of these possible phorophytes will give you the most branch for your buck? One "shortcut" is that several of them can be grown from fairly large cuttings. Another technique for greater girth is...if your climate is suitable and you have the space (and patience), you can plant the phorophyte in the ground and then dig it up when the branch is thick enough.
Perhaps for a typical Phalaenopsis the branch should be at least as thick as your wrist.
In order for the Phal's roots to attach to the branch...the orchid has to be very firmly secured. I use a slip knot method to maintain tension in the 20lb fishing line.
If you do it right...you'll be able to water two plants at once...the Phal and its phorophyte. If the Phal is thirstier than its host, then you can attach it with some moss. You can also give the host a faster draining medium. Then the orchid's roots would extend into the phorophyte's medium. Quite often bonsai growers use orchid mix as their medium.
You can always raise the phorophyte's root crown above the soil line. This will help hedge against rot and provide a bit more surface area for the Phal. Plus, then you can see two sets of exposed roots...the Phal's and the phorophytes.
In terms of watering frequency...it depends on several factors...the temperature, the phorophyte, its medium...and the quantity and type of moss you gave the Phal. Personally, I'd water the Phal as soon as I attached it...and then wait and see how many days it takes for it to look wilty. The next time I watered the Phal it would be a day or two before it was likely to show any signs of drought stress. Generally though, a newly mounted orchid will require more frequent waterings than it will when it has numerous roots (straws) crawling all over the branch. So at least initially, you'd want the phorophyte's medium to drain especially well.
It might take some tweaking to get the drainage balance right...but attaching the Phal to a live branch will definitely increase the value to space ratio. You'll get more value for the same amount of space.
Charles Alford sells some really nice Platyceriums. I've always been satisfied with the value to price ratio. He only sells four times a year though. You have to e-mail him to get on his list. But he offers many neat epiphytic ferns that you can't get elsewhere.
Growing Platyceriums from spore is pretty easy. The hardest part is the waiting.
One thing that's pretty great about Platyceriums is that they make perfect baskets for all types of plants. This can greatly increase the value to space ratio. For example...
Bifurcatums are fairly common here in Southern California...so if somebody shows me one it's like showing me an empty basket. I have the same perspective with bonsais. A nice bonsai will have a pretty decent value to space ratio...but it's still a tree without anything growing on it. It's a blank canvas.
Imagine if Frank attends a bonsai show or a fern show. Let's say that he has a budding general interest in plants. What's the average amount of time he spends looking at each entry? Two seconds? I'm pretty sure if each bonsai and Platycerium had one companion plant...then the total amount of time he spent looking at the exhibits would increase. How much would the total time increase if each entry had two companion plants?
Depending on the preferences of the exhibitors...the companion plants could stand out and instantly grab your attention...or they could be more like Easter Eggs (media).
When I first moved into my house...my plant friends would walk right past my Cedar tree. As I started attaching more and more plants to it...visitors would linger longer and longer. I refer to this as the Man Man Zou standard. It's Chinese for "walk slow"...or "walk carefully". As in you'll want to take your time so that you don't miss any delightful details.
Nice!!! I wish I could germinate on my trees, but that would never work in Upstate NY! - cnslr81
Sure it could work! Just bring the trees inside for the winter! In other words, use potted trees. And it doesn't even have to be trees. It can be any plant with a relatively woody surface. For example...I attached orchids to my potted Crassula...
The Crassula is mostly potted in 3/4" rocks for excellent drainage. This means that the orchids are thrilled when their roots grow down into the rocks...which now have moss growing between them. Plus, I can also just place an orchid on the rocks and it will grow. Here's what I have growing on top of the rocks...
Bulbophyllum blepharistes, Cleisostoma scolopendrifolium, Sarcochilus ceciliae, Tetramicra canaliculata, Tolumnia variegatum
Maybe I'll replace most of the succulents (Echeverias, Sedums, etc) currently growing on the rocks with miniature rupiculous Laelias.
Probably the first phorophyte candidate that comes to mind is Ficus benjamina. At least here in SoCal they seem to be ubiquitous house plants. I've grown numerous orchids on a F. benjamina that I had growing in the ground. The texture on the bark is perhaps a bit better than the texture on my Crassula...so it's probably more hospitable to the necessary fungus.
But if you visit your local nurseries I'm sure you'll be able to find some potted plants that could make excellent phorophytes. Maybe it's best to find a 15 gallon tree and then cut it down to size. Fruit trees are generally pretty good choices.
Watering mounted plants indoors can be a hassle though. I've never grown any orchids inside but if I did try some mounted orchids indoors then I'd probably set up a DIY drip watering system. Plenty of orchids don't need much water during winter though. When it's warm enough you could just move the phorophyte outdoors. It would be a good idea to pot the phorophyte in quite a bit of bark to provide excellent drainage.
Even with the perfect host...the orchid seeds won't germinate without the necessary fungus. And unfortunately the necessary fungus isn't visible to the naked eye. So when you select orchids for your phorophyte...choose ones that probably have the fungus. Imported orchids most likely have the fungus. For example, orchids from vendors like Ecuagenera and Floralia are good choices. Orchids from Andy's Orchids are also a good bet.
It's always a good idea to experiment with extra divisions. This way you don't have all your epiphytes on one tree. See what I did there?
don't keep all your epiphytes on one tree = don't keep all your eggs in one basket
attach two epiphytes to the same branch = kill two birds with one stone
there's more than one way to attach an epiphyte = there's more than one way to skin a cat
What are the chances that these improved expressions will catch on? How long would it take?
Will growing orchids on potted plants ever catch on? I sure hope so!
Earlier in the year I attached Mystacidium capense and Brassavola nodosa to a potted Bougainvillea. The orchids have white flowers and the Bougainvillea has reddish flowers. When they bloom it should be like a living bouquet.
