Psychopsis Orchid Time Lapse

Описание: 2023 is The National Garden Bureau's Year of the Orchid. To get a 12-tip book about orchids from NGB go to their Facebook page.
One of the orchids you can grow in your home is one you have probably never heard of. I am sure you have seen and may even have in your home one of the Phalaenopsis orchids commonly found for sale at the garden center or big box store. If you can grow one of them, you can grow a Psychopsis, or Butterfly orchid.
The genus name comes from Greek, psyche meaning butterfly, and opsis, meaning resembling. One of the four species is Psychopsis papilio. Papilio is Latin for butterfly and the genus of our swallowtail butterflies. Psychopsis papilio Mariposa is one of the more common hybrids in this genus. Mariposa is Spanish for butterfly. So, when we say this is the butterfly orchid we really mean it.
These epiphytic orchids grow on trees high in the rainforest. The three sepals look like antennae, two petals off to the sides look like wings and the third petal looks like the body of a butterfly. In my mind the three sepals look like three tall feathers on a hat, the two side petals look like ruffled sleeves and the third large petal looks like a dress. There is a breastplate in the middle with a puppy dog's face on it. Which do you see, a butterfly or a dancer? Leave a comment on which one you see.
The flower spike is usually only a couple of feet tall, but can grow to as much as five feet tall. A single spike comes from the base of a new pseudobulb. A vigorous plant can send up more than one new spike at a time. A single 3 to 5 inch flower blooms at the end of the spike. The flower can last a week to a month. After it falls off, a new flower will bloom at the end of the same spike, so the spike should not be cut until it turns completely crispy brown. An accidently broken spike should be left alone to see if it will branch out and continue blooming. New flowers have been known to come from the same spike for a few years to more than a decade.
Psychopsis orchids are native to jungle forests at medium elevations of 1,000 to 4,000 feet in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. The variation in elevation shows the orchid can tolerate some variation in environmental conditions and allows homeowners some latitude in growing the orchid indoors.