Epidemdrum magnoliae (Green-fly orchid) buds)

To my great surprise, I found dozens of bud stems on my "rescued" specimen of a Green Fly orchid specimen from the Charleston, South Carolina area. I had visited last year to photograph the orchids in their natural habitat -- the spreading limbs of Live Oaks (it's an epiphytic orchid species), and found that there were some small logs at the site of a recent tree fall. Seems that someone had cut some of the logs for hauling off. I turned one of them over and saw a small group of the orchid leaves, so I determined that I would "rescue" one of the smaller logs and take it home. I left the log behind the house in shade and provided no special care.

This winter, we had low temps of around 10 degrees F, and I figured that the plants would probably not make it. So, this spring, I plsaced the log with some sad-looking leaves under a large Camellia for shade and pretty much forgot about it. We had a very wet spring, and apparently the plants on the log were happy. They are usually in full bloom around July 4 in their natural habitat down south, so I'm expecting a couple of weeks delay for flowers due to their being farther north.

Stay tuned for further details...