I was inspired this month to “think outside of the box’ while working with a client. I get a lot of inspiration from visiting or working with clients who love to garden. Thinking outside the box meant that I could challenge everything that I had been taught to believe.

I was refreshing the older pool garden planters of bromeliads, (some of which were declining after blooming), crotons, blooming curcumas, tropical houseplants, including dracaena, corn plants, and two Cattleya orchids, planted in the dirt. Both orchids were very healthy and blooming magnificently.

I knew orchids were epiphytes and could hang in the air, but ‘hanging’ beautifully in the dirt went against everything I knew. The pool cage was partially shaded by an old, large, live oak tree. The exposure was south-eastern. The orchids had been in the planters for years and loved their location. In November, the largest Cattleya was proudly bragging with more than 25 flowers.

Orchids, not including terrestrial orchids, as a general rule, need to be situated in the air, hanging from trees, or in orchid baskets in a bark medium. I think the secret to these healthy Cattleyas was they didn’t have irrigation in the planters, just subsisting on rainfall and have almost been ignored. Cattleyas like well-drained medium/soil that alternates between moist and dry.

If you are in Zones 9b – 11, you might want to try thinking outside of the box into planters, trees, and outdoor walls, for your orchids.