Orchids in the Trees: Dreams of a Tropical Garden Come True

摘要

AT 14 I BOUGHT MY FIRST ORCHID plant, a Bletilla striata ordered from the classified ads in the back of a Sunset magazine. As a boy, I lived in coastal Southern California, which has winter frost, and I thought maybe this cool-growing ground orchid from China would prosper under the banana tree in my private little garden in the back yard. It bloomed. And I was bitten by the orchid bug. In the more than 50 years that ensued I have seldom been without at least a few orchids flourishing sometimes struggling, I must say — in my care. It was not only the unusual blossoms that I found enchanting, but also the strange way many orchids grow, with curious exposed pseudobulbs and aerial roots creeping along branches in tall rainforest trees. One of my recurrent dreams was to someday have a garden with tropical orchids living in the trees.