Tag Archives: Chinese Ground Orchid

Easy Access to Great Plant Information

Posted on April 8, 2024 by Dallas Garden Buzz

April 8, 2024

The kiosk in the north garden at Raincatcher’s Garden has been somewhat ignored over the years.  We felt it would be a good opportunity to give people visiting the garden some useful information about events happening at the garden, as well as plant details.  It was time that the kiosk served some purpose!!!  The first poster that was added to the kiosk was information about our blog, Dallas Garden Buzz.  Hopefully, visitors to the garden will use the QR code and find a wealth of plant information, beautiful garden photos and great recipes.  Another flyer was added to announce our annual plant sale coming up on Tuesday, May 7, 2024

One of our main missions as Master Gardeners is to be a resource for gardening knowledge to the community.  We will be using the kiosk to do this by posting a monthly plant information sheet featuring one of the plants in the garden.  Not only will visitors be able to read the plant information but they will also be able to stroll through the garden trying to locate the plant on the flyer. 

Below is the first “Plant of the Month” information sheet that is currently posted in the kiosk.  Hopefully, this will be the first of many!!!  

Chinese Ground Orchard

The Chinese Ground Orchid is a perennial bulb in the orchid family that grows to a height of 1 – 1½ foot with a 1 foot spread.  It is a shade plant that does well in morning sun and afternoon shade but it will also grow in full shade.  The blooms last for about 6 weeks and the foliage looks like a palm tree seedling when not in bloom. This tropical plant does well as a ground cover or growing under a tree and is a good choice for a container in colder climates.  The Chinese Ground Orchid spreads by rhizomes and is easily propagated by divisions.  This beautiful plant is blooming in the courtyard now.  

Jackie James, Dallas County Master Gardener Class of 1993

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Bletilla striata, Chinese Ground Orchid

Posted on April 7, 2016 by Dallas Garden Buzz

Bletilla striata, the easy to grow, terrestial orchid belongs in your garden.

Plant these bulbs in dappled shade and moist, but well drained soil. Add mulch. Although Chinese Ground Orchids are easily cared for and somewhat drought tolerant, they will not flourish in dry conditions so try to water before they become dry.

bletillastriata

The blooms come in several shades of lavender, hot pink, yellow, and white. Each stem can have as many as 10 blooms!

After the flowers collapse, Dr. Dotty Woodson suggests cutting the seed pods off  because they don’t naturally germinate in our climate but will germinate in a laboratory situation. Remember our trip to Dotty’s orchid greenhouse?

If you are curious, throw the seeds in one of your pots to see if you can get them to grow and if they do, let us know.

The good news is they will multiply vegetatively,  so expect ever increasing clumps.

Have I mentioned the pleasing foliage?  It is longitudinally pleated  or striated; growing  upright about 1 1/2 feet high.  A variegated form can be found, that Dotty says is awfully pretty. In our climate, the foliage is deciduous.

The lavender Bletilla striata blooming in our spring garden and pictured a few days ago came from Jim.

And on a serendipitous note;  while some of our gardeners were on a scavenger dig, they potted up several mystery bulbs. Now that the bulbs are at our garden, some think it could be another stash of Chinese Ground Orchids!

Ann

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