Gardening : Orchids, Other Exotic Flowers on Sale Today
More than 170 species of orchids and other exotics will be featured at the Los Angeles State and County Arboretum’s Valentine plant sale in Arcadia today.
The arboretum holds many plant sales throughout the year, but this is the only one to focus on orchids, many of which are just beginning their prime flowering season. The sale plants come from three sources: surplus arboretum stock, seedlings grown in the arboretum’s glasshouses especially for this sale and commercial suppliers.
Among the most plentiful will be cymbidiums, the best of all orchids for outside cultivation in Southern California. Moth orchids (Phalaenopsis) and lady slipper (Paphiopedilum) species will also be well represented at the sale, along with corsage orchids (Cattleyas). The frilly cattleyas, ranging from delicate white to golden orange and regal purple, are usually snapped up early in the sale by orchidists adding to their glasshouse collections.
In fact, many of the more unusual species will disappear soon after the gates open at 9 a.m. Get there early for the best selection. Most orchids are priced in the $5-to-$35 range, although a few exceptionally fine specimens may be priced as high as $150.
Earl Ross, curator of orchids, reports that the arboretum is growing more and more exotic plants from seed to reduce wild-plant collecting, a serious horticultural problem today. He expects to have a large number of Stanhopea orchid species ready for the sale. Planted in hanging baskets, they bear waxy, fragrant blooms on scapes extending from the bottom of the basket. Stanhopeas can be grown outside in a protected area.
For cultivation indoors, Ross recommends moth orchids, currently among the trendiest of flowering house plants. In garden windows on the north side of the house, moth orchids thrive and bloom for four to six weeks, usually beginning in February. When the first bloom ends, Ross suggests breaking off the flower spike at the second node. This encourages a second set of blooms to appear about 90 days later.
Probably the biggest complaint with orchids, Ross says, is lack of bloom. Why do they stop blooming? Almost always, the reason is insufficient light. Most orchids require a full day of filtered light. The glasshouse at the arboretum is covered with shade cloth during the hours when the sun is strongest. But at 2 in the afternoon, the shade cloth rolls back and is not returned until 9 the next morning.
This means the orchids receive full sun in the late afternoon and early morning. Of course, the light is refracted from the high glass overhead, but the orchids still are basking in a healthy dose of sunshine each day.
Moth and lady slipper orchids require somewhat less light than do the cattleyas and cymbidiums.
In addition to orchids, visitors to the Valentine plant sale will find exotic heliconias. These tropical blooms look like colorful lobster claws, and florists are beginning to rely upon them heavily for long-lasting, stunning arrangements. Other tropical plants available at the sale are aromatic gingers, pearl anthuriums, frangipani, jasmine “Pikake,” and variegated hibiscus.
Although orchids and tropical plants are the primary focus of the Valentine sale, the arboretum also will sell an assortment of organic herbs (grown without chemical sprays). These include onion and garlic chives, golden thyme, lemon thyme, spearmint, applemint, peppermint, pineapple mint and pineapple sage. More herbs for the kitchen are marjoram, Green oregano, Italian oregano, Mexican oregano, rosemary, tricolor sage, sorrel and tarragon. These herbs are potted in 1- and 5-gallon containers, thus producing instant herb gardens.
Visitors to the Valentine plant sale will also find beautiful blooms and flowering trees on the arboretum grounds. Spring pansies, primroses and poppies are ablaze with color, and many of the magnolias, camellias and azaleas are beginning to bloom.
But the most spectacular show at the entire arboretum at this time of the year is inside the tropical display greenhouse. Here the best of the blooming orchids and other flowering plants from all arboretum glasshouses are displayed against a backdrop of huge ferns, running brooks and tropical trees dripping with live moss. To see orchids at their best, don’t miss the tropical greenhouse.
Experts will be on hand to answer questions about how to grow exotic plants. The Valentine sale runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Ayres Hall.
The Los Angeles State and County Arboretum is at 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia. Admission to the sale is included in the arboretum entrance fee of $3 for adults; admission is $1.50 for senior citizens, students with ID and youths 13 to 17. The fee for children 5 to 12 is 75 cents. Children under 5 are admitted free.
