I want to share a special experience with a nice orchid lady.
High up in the Andes Mountains in the Department of Amazonas Peru we visited with a lady that has lived and collected orchids there for 40 years. She runs a little roadside restaurant from her house and outback she grows her orchids and other prize plants.
At 2650 meters (8700 feet) altitude and in the cloud forest her plants just grow themselves. I asked her if she ever has to water them and she just looked at me like I was crazy! Never a drop of fertilizer, well maybe something sometime from one of her goats, but not on purpose.
Almost all the orchids are in hand carved tree fern pots planted in tree fern chunks and sometimes various other unidentifiable medias. I asked here if she ever tried to use another type of media and again she just looked at me like I was stupid! She informed me orchids would grow in or on anything so why worry about such things.
Temperatures are always cool and comfortable and the views are spectacular.
OK here is a quick random tour of her garden, very difficult to photograph because her paths are not as wide as my body and all is on a steep bank. And to top it off my lens kept fogging up. And it was not the blooming season yet.
High up in the Andes Mountains in the Department of Amazonas Peru we visited with a lady that has lived and collected orchids there for 40 years. She runs a little roadside restaurant from her house and outback she grows her orchids and other prize plants.
At 2650 meters (8700 feet) altitude and in the cloud forest her plants just grow themselves. I asked her if she ever has to water them and she just looked at me like I was crazy! Never a drop of fertilizer, well maybe something sometime from one of her goats, but not on purpose.
Almost all the orchids are in hand carved tree fern pots planted in tree fern chunks and sometimes various other unidentifiable medias. I asked here if she ever tried to use another type of media and again she just looked at me like I was stupid! She informed me orchids would grow in or on anything so why worry about such things.
Temperatures are always cool and comfortable and the views are spectacular.
OK here is a quick random tour of her garden, very difficult to photograph because her paths are not as wide as my body and all is on a steep bank. And to top it off my lens kept fogging up. And it was not the blooming season yet.
Thanks for sharing. I always thought about living in Ecuador to get those growing conditions but now I will investigate Peru also.
