GO VERTICAL

Imagine a beautiful epiphytic Cymbidium ‘White Rabbit’ dangling from a tree in your garden or nestled in a stump on your balcony. It can be done! But it’s not possible for all cymbidiums. So use northern Australian cymbidiums, which are epiphytes and spend their lives hanging from trees, deriving all the moisture and nutrients they need from the air, rain or plant debris such as leaf lier. Popular varieties among home gardeners include the giant boat-lip orchid

(C. madidum), grassy boatlip orchid (C. suave) and channelled boat-lip orchid

(C. canaliculatum).

Here’s how

Simply find a fork in a tree or stump, pack it out with sphagnum moss, press the base of the orchid into it and tie it with so… twine or old, cut-up pantyhose. A…er a couple of months, once the orchid’s roots have ‘taken’, remove tie. TIP It’s illegal to remove orchids from the wild, so make sure you only purchase them from licensed growers.

THE GRACEFUL, STRAPPY LEAVES OF CYMBIDIUMS ARE AS MUCH A FEATURE AS THE MASSES OF FLOWERS.