Hi from Sydney, Australia

Hi

Like many here, I've had a long standing interest in growing exotic plants. My late grandmother was a keen gardener and my inspiration. She had a large collection of bromeliads (and some orchids) and I always enjoyed looking through her greenhouses. As a teenager I was most interested in the bromeliad genus Tillandsia, but as my interest grew I began to diversify and ultimately moved on to orchids and was growing Australian terrestrials (Pterostylis, Diuris, Corybas, etc) and Masdevallias. Looking back, probably not a great combination of plants due to the vast differences in their cultural requirements!

In my twenties my interest and ability to keep a permanent collection waned, but now that I'm a little more settled the bug has come back in force! I still have quite a few Tillandsias, but my main interest nowadays are Pleurothallidinae and other miniature orchids. I tend to be drawn to the weird and unusual over the colourful and showy! My latest acquisition was a division of Effusiella tarantula which has been on my wishlist for a long time, can't wait to see it bloom!

I live in an apartment so my growing space is restricted to a sheltered balcony. I'm currently growing a range of Pleurothallids on a storage rack and in a glass/aluminium shop display cabinet that I've converted into a wardian case with fans and humidifier. The wardian case is not finished as I'd still like to add a watering system and lights over the coming months. If all goes well I might scrap the storage shelving in favour of another wardian case or convert a wine fridge for those cooler growing Pleurothallids. Looking to the future, I'd like to try my hand at growing Pleurothallids and other unusual miniatures from seed, but perhaps one thing at a time!

Best

Evan


My wardian case, a converted glass/aluminium shop display cabinet I found on Gumtree.


My storage rack, with a mix of Pleurothallids and Tillandsias.

 

Thanks Kelly, Marni and Naoki. I did use some of the ideas on this forum when assembling the wardian case, so I look forward to discussing what works and what doesn't. Naoki, currently the enclosure only has natural lighting (although that photograph was taken the evening I finished the case and was at night with a pedestal lamp over it) but I intend to add some artificial lighting soon.

 

Thanks Fumiaki. The Australian terrestrials really are an interesting assortment of orchids. I guess they are much easier to come by here amongst members of native societies and there is one major grower/nursery in South Australia that specialises in them and sells by mail. Nowadays I prefer to find and photograph them in the wild. Due to their dormancy cycle, having a collection of 'empty' looking pots isn't as appealing personally.

 

Hi John

My terrestrials were bought from Nesbitts Orchids in SA, and I followed the guidelines the nursery provided for making up an appropriate soilmix. I never collected any wild plants myself.

Evan

 

I definitely found some species much easier to cultivate than others. It's almost 20 years ago since I kept any, so I don't recall the exact details of the mix. My suggestion would be to contact Les Nesbitt directly for cultural information, details are here Australasian Orchid Nurseries