Wednesday 30 October 2013

All sorts of hardy orchids have always thrived in my garden. This is a group of hybrid Dactylorhiza that just appeared and has clumped up nicely. At this stage they look untidy BUT DO NOT cut them down until the foliage is totally dead and shriveled. In the first place this undoubtedly lets fungal diseases in and perhaps more important there are still nutrients, particularly sugars, that the tubers will take back into storage and use to produce more and bigger plants next year. In gardens where I know people like to cut back and tidy in early autumn, they have lost all their hardy orchids.