The Irish Gardener, Peter Dowdall, shines a light on the elegant orchid this Christmas
Everyone associates Christmas with the vibrant poinsettia, but its equally impressive counterpart, the orchid, is also worthy of some festive fanfare. There are hundreds of different species of orchids, but the most popular type of orchid at Christmas is what’s called the ‘moth orchid’.
It wasn’t this way when I was a child but over the last number of years it’s become almost synonymous with Christmas. It’s a gorgeous, elegant gift that will flower for months afterward which makes it a great gift. Orchids have a bad reputation for being high maintenance but actually, they thrive on neglect. Because there are so many types of orchids some of them are very specific as to what they need. But the orchids that we grow as houseplants are very easy to care for. Read more: Diarmuid Gavin's top jobs to save your garden this winter You want to give them a good amount of natural sunlight, but that’s not to say it needs to be next to a window, just a nice bright room. Like all indoor plants, they don’t like huge fluctuations in temperature, so they don’t want to be right next to a radiator or an outside door. Display them somewhere there is a consistent temperature level. When they’re in bloom, the flowers can last for months. Water them about once a week by sitting them in a bowl full of water for half an hour, let them absorb what they want and then take them out. When the petals are gone, it might look a bit miserable and dead - but it’s not. Don’t throw it out. You need to follow the flower stem halfway down towards the soil and cut the stem back just above the node. The orchid will then produce another flowering shoot relatively quickly - by quickly I’m talking gardener’s time so it could be in a couple of weeks or months. You can purchase an array of plants and find more great garden inspiration from Peter at theirishgardener.com
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