Origin
South America
Light
Dappled shade
Watering
Twice a week
Care
Expert
Flowering
Foliage
Indoor
Cymbidium
Long spikes carrying twenty waxy flowers that last two months: the orchid China has grown for two thousand years.
Care Profile
A guide to ensuring your botanical companion thrives.
Origin
China
Light
Bright indirect
Watering
Weekly
Maintenance
Moderate
The scholars' orchid
Cultivated in China long before any tropical orchid, it is one of the four plants of the scholars, painted in ink for its slender leaves as much as for its quiet scent.
Modern hybrids descend from Himalayan mountain species, and they keep the need for cool late-summer nights to initiate their spikes.
"Two thousand years of cultivation before it reached us."
01
Styling Tip 01
Outdoors in summer
Move it into part shade from May to October: the gap between warm days and cool nights triggers the flower spikes.
02
Styling Tip 02
Cool in winter
A bright room at ten to twelve degrees, right through a flowering that runs until spring.
03
Styling Tip 03
A tight pot
It flowers better when crowded: repot only every three years, when the rootball lifts out of the pot.
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Origin
Southeast Asia
Light
Low to bright
Watering
Weekly
Care
Easy
Flowering
Foliage