Simplificar es el arte de los angeles, y el trabajo de los diabolos, complicar. The angel's art is to simplify, and the work of the devils' is to complicate matters.
P O'B Quote: >But my point is that it is really tricky >trying to predict the correct dry-period rest times from gross climatic >data. Of course it is, which is why species orchid growing is an art and not a science. Sympatric species - Calanthes vestita and triplicata, for example - may be in the one case deciduous and in the other, not. However, the one grows in much more strongly drained situations and in more light than the other (in my experience, but I'm willing - and sure to be :-] - corrected.) It needs to drop its leaves for the drier period, whilst C. triplicata mostly gets by intact. Again, others may differ, but I find that the deciduous Calanthes need their rest if they are to flower, and indeed usually do so off the bare bulb. This is, however, fine tuning. Climates can be starkly different. Singapore is not monsoonal and whilst it get less damp from time to time, nobody would say that it had a true dry season. However, the genuinely monsoonal areas, from Northern Australia at one extreme to Nepal at the other have hard, harsh seasons. Nepal has three months of rain (June-August) sandwiched between a couple of dampish months; and the rest is dry as a Bath biscuit, cooking to 45C on most days in April-May below 500m. Thus central Himalayan plants need / tolerate / are adapted to (but anyway won't flower without) a corresponding period of dormancy. ______________________________ Oliver Sparrow +44 (0)1628 823187 www.chforum.org _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
