Orchids on Show – Gardening Australia

SERIES 36 | Episode 25

Millie visits the biggest orchid show in the Southern Hemisphere and is blown away by the variety and the amazing people who grow them.

There are 28,000 species of orchids that have been described, organised into 850 genera. 

Orchid lovers who spoke to Millie liked the huge range of colours and shapes, the fact that orchids are quite easy to grow and that the flowers last a long time. 

Michael Coker, former president of the Orchid Societies Council of Victoria, has been growing orchids since he was 8.  He says orchids can be found on every continent except Antarctica and in every climate, so it’s best to check the needs of an orchid before buying it. 

His particular passion is for Asian slipper orchids – Paphiopedilum. He says most collectors are drawn in by the incredible variety of sizes, shapes, colours and growing conditions. There is always something new to find and always new cultivars being bred.

One of his prize orchids is a Coelogyne usitana that he has had for about 12 years. It has long, drooping zig-zag stems and each node shows where a previous flower has been; each stem produces about one each month. 

Some of Paphiopedilums have enormous flowers, the result of intense breeding since the 1890s. 

Also at the show are many more delicate native orchids. Grower Fran Byrne-Dimos says she loves the ‘dendocks’ – Dendrobium and Dockrillia cultivars and species – because they are easy to grow. These are epiphytic species that are found in coastal areas from southern NSW to Cape York in FNQ. 

There are terrestrial orchids too, such as Pterostylis, which are harder to grow; they need a specific fungus in the soil and to be repotted every few years. 

Clive Halls grows cold-climate Masdevallia orchids at his nursery in Victoria’s Yarra Valley. The orchids originate from high-altitude areas of the Andes so do well in southern states but dislike the heat further north. Their colours are truly eye-catching, including bright magenta and orange with magenta stripes. 

Clive, now 77, started growing orchids at 16 and calls the hobby ‘a bit of a disease’. 

“You never know what you’re going to get,” he says of growing hybrids.

He has an un-named hybrid and told Millie he would like it to be named after her, so there is now a pretty, white orchid with pink blush and yellow points named Masdevallia ‘Millie Ross’.

Judge Margaret Thomas has the daunting task of trying to pick winners from the mass of stunning entries. From each of the division winners a grand champion is chosen – the best in show. And the winner this year was a huge, butter-yellow, super-healthy specimen of Cymbidium Coraki Glowing ‘Kentlyn’.  

Margaret says she just loves orchids and something to do every day. “They give you a life balance – I’d be lost without them,” she says.

Featured Plants VENUS SLIPPER ORCHIDPaphiopedilum cv.SLIPPER ORCHIDPhragmipedium  cv. Coelogyne usitana Paphiopedilum  ‘Pacific Titan’ Dockrillia cv. GREENHOOD ORCHIDPterostylis  sp.KITE ORCHIDMasdevallia  cv. Masdevallia  ‘Millie Ross’ Cymbidium Coraki Glowing ‘Kentlyn’

Filmed on Bunurong Country | Skye, Vic

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