Re: Orchids in California

Those following this thread might be interested to see the following information on the web (there are many more):

A list of CA orchids and their approximate months in bloom (based on a list by Ronald Coleman):
http://www.orchids.org/ooc/or_of_ca/table.shtml
Roger Raiche's find - a dark purple leaved cultivar of our local Epipactis gigantea:
http://www.planethorticulture.com/about/serpentine2.html
Native Orchids of Marin County:
http://www.marin.cc.ca.us/cnps/MarinOrchids.html
This last page has a photo of one of my favorites - Goodyera oblongifolia, the 'rattlesnake-plantain' (because of the white markings down the center of the leaf). There are various 'quiet' orchids all around the Bay Area - many people don't even know they are there. As a garden consultant, I have, on occasion, come across large patches of stream orchids in people's gardens, which they are trying hard to 'weed' out!! Once they are told these are orchids, and that the site was once a stream bank, they usually try and foster their growth and even try and 'restore' that spot to something like its former state (even our non-showy native have their allure, apparently!).

Regards,
Seán O.

At 11:01 AM 2/22/2005, Jason D wrote:
Hi Tim & Bill,
Browsing in a bookstore this weekend, what did I happen upon? _The Wild Orchids of California_, by Ronald Coleman:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/080148782X/qid=1109098142/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-5245262-0660904?v=glance&s=books
There are more chaparral/coastal scrub species than I had thought, but not a ton. One is *endemic* to Monterey County. The counties with the most species are in the rainy northwest corner of California, as I had suspected. The Mediterranean species do sound like good bets for our Calif. medit-climate gardens, assuming their pollinator is not in California (orchids usually have very specific pollinators) and thus wouldn't enable these species to reseed.
Cheers,
Jason
San Francisco
h o r t u l u s   a p t u s     -    'a garden suited to its purpose'
Seán A. O'Hara   sean@support.net   www.hortulusaptus.com
1034A Virginia Street, Berkeley, California 94710-1853, U.S.A.
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