ROBERTA'S ORCHIDS

This site is dedicated to the orchids that grow (mostly) outside in coastal southern California, USA

It all started with a single Cymbidium, but one orchid followed another, and now my yard is "Orchid Central". I gain great pleasure in the constant discovery of more species, and their hybrids, that can grow outside in my wonderful temperate climate. Winter frost is rare, and at worst it lasts only a few hours. Summers are generally moderate, and high temperatures above 90 deg. F (32 deg. C) are also rare. Summer nights are cool (60-68 deg. F, 15-20 deg. C). I do have a small greenhouse that ranges from 60 deg. F to 85 deg. F (15 deg. C to 30 deg. C), but most of my collection lives outside throughout the year.

On this site, I share photos of my plants, and a bit of what I have learned about how to grow them. See the GROWING AREAS page to visualize my outdoor growing environment, and a few ideas for indoor (non-greenhouse) growing.

Meeting the temperature needs of (mostly) tropical orchids is the biggest challenge, but even equatorial orchids from altitudes above about 3600 ft (1200 m) can tolerate my cool winter nights. My adventure has been in learning how to determine the "overlap" between the conditions that they need and the conditions that I have. See the INDEX OF PLANTS for a listing of all of the plants on this site, as well as information about my growing conditions, and other notes (such as fragrance).

When viewing photos, click on the thumbnail to view a larger image, then use the browser "Back" button to return.

Email: roberta at orchidcentral dot org

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Content on this website is owned solely by the owner of this website. Content may be reproduced for personal or orchid-society use. It may not be sold, or used for the advertisement for the sale of plants or any other commercial purpose. Violations of these restrictions are subject to prosecution under the law.