Monday, November 30, 2015

Growing orchids in the city

Grow Cattleya orchidsin the city | The Urban Gardener
Growing orchids in the city? ... impossible! Or so I was told.
Until, I just had to show them. Cattleyas with ruffled pouty lips in a five-petalled haiku.
Cattleya orchid bud
City-grown and city-bloomed, with no greenhouse or misting system in sight.
Just plenty of good ol'-fashioned sunshine reaching past plant-laden window-boxes and beaming on even more orchids on my window-sills ...
And moist, humid coastal air. Plus, a neighbour's leaky AC unit drip-drip-dripping onto my lucky orchid plants ...
Cattleya orchid grown in Mumbai city, in bloom
For every sceptic and nay-sayer who says it can't be done, a mammoth Cattleya orchid that blooms its heart out in a flourish of gorgeousness. Right here in the city, in an apartment window jostling against a bustling road.
Mokkaras and every Vandaceous orchid blushing a healthy happy hue. Of exuberant pinks ...
...and sun-dipped yellows.
These are the Vanda days. Of warmth and light and bounteousness all around. No skimping on anything!
Growing Phalaenopsis orchid in a city balcony
Phalaenopsis are amazing! Smashing every preconceived notion of how they should grow and that too, so cheerfully.
Growing Cattleya orchid in a tropical city windowsill in Mumbai.
From brightest fuchsia to palest pink, Cattleya or Dendrobium. All tropical orchids, all city-grown among the rough and tumble of traffic and noise and pollution. Thriving, blooming, thrilling... point proved! 

Dendrobium Visa Airy Peach orchid in pale pink flower. Grown in Mumbai city.