An orchid in my garden

Dear readers, we take advantage of this great space that gives us the community @HiveGarden to share some pictures and description of a beautiful plant species that we have in our garden, as could be seen in the title is an orchid, a plant with beautiful flowers, in my country Venezuela is the national flower and is known as the flower of May because it usually blooms on this date.

As you can see in the picture the plant is in a tree outside my home, as you all know it is an epiphyte plant, that is to say that it has the ability to grow on another plant without causing any damage, that is to say it does not take advantage of the nutrients that the tree has. We have noticed that the root system is abundant which allows a good anchorage in the branches of the tree to prevent the fall by strong gusts of wind or because of any animal or bird.

This type of plant adapts very well to tropical zones, that is to say that it supports climatic conditions with high relative humidity and temperatures ranging from 32 to 34 °C, which are the ones we have registered in the area where I live. Generally it blooms at the end of April and beginning of May, a date that coincides with the entrance of the rains, generating a cooler environment and greater availability of water due to the constant precipitations.

Some neighbors wonder how the plant can survive on top of the tree's branches considering that it is not in contact with the soil where the nutrients for the plants are concentrated. To that valuable question there is a surprising answer, this type of plants obtain nutrients through rainwater that runs down the branches of the tree and is absorbed by the roots, rainwater has low concentrations of nutrients, but some researchers point out that these plants do not need high concentrations of nutrients.

Emphasizing what was mentioned in the previous paragraph, from the practical point of view we have been able to corroborate that the plant does not need a great amount of nutrients, because we fertilize it with worm humus every 4 months, which has been enough to maintain its growth and development. On the other hand, it is also important to mention that the plant does not tolerate direct sunlight so it needs shade, the tree has been an ideal habitat for this plant, but in the same way it is necessary to have indirect light inputs to favor flowering.

Dear readers, we have shared with you a brief outline of the characteristics of the orchid plant, which is a beautiful species to give color and beauty to our gardens. In future publications we will delve a little deeper into the management and characteristics of this type of plant.

Important note: all photos are property of the author @amestyj and were captured in his home garden using a Motorola G6 plus cell phone.