Butterfly Orchids :: A Father's Day Gift For Me

When my dad shared his *tree orchids* with me several years ago, I had no idea the significance they would hold at this point in time. Of course I was thrilled and honored at the time. To have a piece of anything from my dad's yard meant a great deal to me. It was like taking a part of him home with me every time he shared a bromeliad or iris or fern or a cutting.

Florida Butterfly Orchid, A Florida Native Orchid found growing naturally on trees, Encyclia tampensis

Each flower of this native orchid is only about 1-1.5" in total size. The panicle of flowers cascades from stems that reach out from the leaves; roots connect to tree bark and small bulbs sprout the leaves. These plants are an epiphyte living off air and water and requiring nothing additional from me except patience to wait for one bloom period each year.

From Central Florida southward you may have seen them latched onto trees when you were out and about in one of our many hammocks or swamps. If they weren't blooming at the time they could easily go unnoticed as the fine strappy leaves are fairly insignificant.

Butterfly orchids bloom anytime from May through summer. They peak in June. Always on Father's Day they are looking their best. It's my gift on Father's Day. Airy and quirky. Colorful and charming. Intricate and simple. Tender and sturdy. Playful and charismatic. They are a reminder to me of all my dad was to me. I miss him every. single. day. Especially today. I have so many treasured memorials of him in my garden to warm my heart and comfort me as I see them flourishing long after he cared for them. The best gifts keep on giving. Some of them even breathe life into our very soul.

Happy Father's Day to all good dads everywhere. Have a beautiful day celebrating one of the most honorable positions you could have been gifted with in this life.


All material © 2007-2014 by Meems for Hoe and Shovel Gardening Blog. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Butterfly! ... Orchid That Is

It is entirely fitting that the Florida native Butterfly Orchids bloom each year right around Father's Day.

The Butterfly Orchid (Encyclia tampensis;also Epidendrum tampense)is an epiphyte. For all the other weeks of the year they simply hang on the old oak trees acting and looking quite non-descript.

My own father gave me these unique Florida plants a few years ago. When he separated his I was the lucky recipient to transplant some to my garden.

Every celebration of Father's Day that Dad is still with us, even though not well and vibrant as the man who raised me, I am thankful. These perky little flowers that bloom this same time each year, have become a treasure not only to my garden but to my heart.


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The follow-up post to Naturalistic Minus Chaotic, "tips for implementing a naturalistic garden" is forthcoming, I promise. I haven't forgotten ... just distracted with what's going on in the garden right now.

Butterfly Orchid

Last week the wispy buds and delicate blooms of the butterly orchids, Encyclia tampensis living on the oak trees were noticed as I rounded the corner to the edible garden. This weekend I finally remembered to take some photos.

Butterfly orchids are epiphytes so they receive absolutely zero attention from me. That along with their demure size means they could easily be overlooked. Tiny blooms maybe but nonetheless beautiful and capturing when observed.

An epiphyte causes no harm to the host plant it is attached to as it receives its nutrients from the air.

Last year I wrote more extensively about this sweet Florida Native which you can read here.

Morning's Harvest and a Bit of Miscellany

Every trip out to the veggie garden is more of an inspection than a culling feast these days. The soil temps are in the eighties and the bug meter is off the charts. Still... not too shabby of a morning's harvest for a vegetable garden on a rapid decline. I must say I've been pleasantly surprised the last couple of weeks while the plants hang on for life. Each basket of veggies is one more delight I didn't expect.

I'm quite thankful, too, for the black cherry tomato plants that volunteered their way up through the soil this spring. None were planted by the gardener but there are several at this point providing plenty of salad candy.

Swallowtail Butterfly Caterpillar
Just after mentioning my wish that the swallowtails would find the parsley... they did. Yay. Probably more like I found him ... this fellow has been around for a while.
Little Ones Adding Beauty to the Garden

Last weekend we enjoyed all the grand-kiddos at the same time. We swam, we ate pizza outside, we played games, we watched a movie, we braided hair, painted toesies and just had lots of kid-fun together. Children are marvelously invigorating and inspiring to have around.

Each of them, in their own special and individual way, has an appreciation for the garden. Early in the morning our granddaughter sat with her Papa outside in the garden. Him with his coffee, her with her hot chocolate. They were just relaxing and chatting it up about flowers and plants... and every other thing on a little girl's heart. I love it that her small, gentle hands love to touch the soft petals of flowers near by.

Native Orchids

It seems fitting to give these little beauties more blog time.

I already posted about them here if you'd like more information about the Butterly Orchid's characteristics. I'm still getting so much enjoyment from their continual blooms each time I pass them by.

The tiny but colorful blooms on Butterfly Orchids are intricate and fascinating. Each flower hardly a full inch from one petal tip to the other. So delicate and wispy they are dangling from the oak tree they are attached to. I've taken so many photos of them still trying to capture the essence of them.

Maybe it's just me but a plant that needs no soil or extra water and yet provides such simple beauty deserves lots of admiration.

I wish you all a very happy weekend... and surely that will include some valuable time spent in your garden! I'm heading in that direction now... blessings to each and every one... Meems

Florida Native Butterfly Orchid

Last winter my dad generously separated and pulled apart a few of his 'tree orchids' from off of his giant live oak tree to pass along to me. Butterfly orchids, Encyclia tampensis (also Epidendrum tampense) are an epiphyte so I promptly tacked them to a few of my oak trees in the front-side garden. After that I pretty much forgot about them.

A delightful addition to the garden without any special attention needed is a good plant to acquire.

A gardener always wonders if a transplant will be happy in its new home. Then we wonder if it will actually bloom or grow like it is meant to. So we do what we think the plant will like and we wait.

It seemed appropriate to site at least one 'clump' of this Florida native next to another Florida native. The Resurrection Fern, Polypodium polypodioideshas also an epiphyte, found its own home on the trunks of several of the oaks without any help from this gardener.
The fern is alive with joyful green leaves this week due to all the glorious rain it has been drinking. When it dries again the fronds will turn brown and curl back into a little shriveled place until its next rain-bath. At which time it immediately resurrects to new green life. All at the same time it multiplies and spreads itself along the length of the tree trunk. Simple and beautiful.

Green flowers are a favorite of mine and considered a bonus to this already unique addition to the garden. The delicate appearing little blooms stretch gracefully out beyond the greenery of the plant. This week they opened up from ultra-thin, wispy stems that lightly dance in the air with each breeze.

It is illegal now to harvest these beauties from the wild which is where they can be found mostly. No telling where my dad's originated. An avid outdoorsman he spends most of his days tromping around in the woods and Florida wildlife management areas. He has had his orchids for many, many years and moved them with him each time he's relocated.

I will do the same thing if I ever leave this garden. What a treasure these little jewels are to me.

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Additional information on the Butterfly Orchid found on the Florida Butterfly Orchid website:

Description: Epidendrum tampense Lindley 1847; Epidendrum porphyrospilum Rchb.f 1877;

Summary: This is a rather conspicuous epiphytic plant with pseudobulbs typically an inch or less in diameter supporting one (sometimes two) slender, grass-like leaves six to twelve inches long. Roots are slender and white when dry, and can run several feet up and down the branch where the plant grows. Flower stems emerge from within the leaf axil, to bear a raceme or panicle of attractive flowers, typically fragrant in the hours around noon. The flowers are 1 to 1.5 inches across, with green sepals and petals suffused with varying amounts of red, a tri-lobed lip with two lobes on either side of the column and the third lobe fan-shaped and typically blotched with purple.

Common Name: Florida Butterfly Orchid

Habitat: Hammocks and swamps from central Florida south, most typically found on live oak trees, but can grow on cypress, pop-ash, pond-apple, palm and pine trees.Flowering season: May through July (peaking in June)