Latest news with #orchids
The Guardian
14 hours ago
- General
- The Guardian
Country diary: A bumper year for orchids – the meadow is brimming with them
Last month, we made a choice on the farm in the midst of the spring drought. The grass was going to seed, risking the quality and amount of hay we could produce. We decided to 'top' the meadows early and hope for rain rather than settling for a poor crop. So far, it's paying off. There has been rain, and the grass, stimulated by mowing, is at last swaying in the breeze. A late hay harvest now looks possible. The drought, paradoxically, has brought a benefit. The grasses, so often dominant, have been suppressed, giving wildflowers a head start. The grazing pastures are no longer monocultures. This year, as horses swish flies, the fields are full of oxeye daisies, creating a landscape as bucolic as an Alfred Munnings painting. Also paying off is my prediction of a bumper orchid year. Wading through the wildflower meadows, I find bee orchid after bee orchid. Each has a pale pink, three-petalled flower with what looks like a fuzzy brown and yellow bee resting on it. If this were southern Europe, a species called the long-horn bee would think this was a female, misled not just by appearance but by the mimicry of pheromones. He'd have a go at mating. Whether the male ever realises he's been tricked into 'pseudo-copulation' with a fake bee I don't know, but either way, he has pollinated the plant. In the UK, the long-horn is so rare that the bee orchids self-pollinate. Then I start finding pyramidal orchids everywhere in the meadow. On top of each long stem is a flower spike, packed full of tiny, delicate individual flowers. Each has that distinctive orchid shape, varying in colour from light pink to strong purple. These ones are such bright magenta they almost glow, and will be pollinated by long-tongued butterflies, and hawk moths, whose proboscis can reach 25mm long. I pick a handful of the sainfoin fronds – loved by horses, naturally anti-inflammatory and anti-parasitic – and return to the stables where the leaves are gratefully munched. In the eaves, the baby swallows are also open mouthed, gaping and calling as the parent swoops in with food. I found a chick dead on the ground this morning, but three remain, looking more ready to fledge each day. Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian's Country Diary, 2018-2024 is published by Guardian Faber; order at and get a 15% discount
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Wild orchid flourishing in woodland near Ardingly in West Sussex
A company creating "habitat banks", spaces designed to increase biodiversity, says it hopes that a rare orchid species found growing at its site in West Sussex will spread to neighbouring part of its work delivering habitat restoration in line with the government's Biodiversity Net Gain policy, Environment Bank manages a stretch of woodland near was there that a thriving population of early purple orchids, with links to both Shakespeare and Christianity, has been Dodds, associate ecologist at Environment Bank, has spoken glowingly about this "beautiful find". "They're quite strongly associated with ancient habitat bank that we have at Ardingly encompasses a small strip of ancient woodland and that's where we found the orchids," he told BBC Radio Dodds explained that the company created "colonisation points" in the hope of expanding this habitat is part of the wider aim of restoring habitats - in this case, an orchid which remains quite, albeit not "wildly", Bank's work is funded by the Biodiversity Net Gain policy which requires developers to achieve a 10% minimum biodiversity net gain on any Dodds said: "If the company can't deliver the biodiversity net gain on the site that they're developing, then we take the money from them and deliver habitats which are then secured for 30 years on our habitat banks."While rare in modern times, this orchid is mentioned in Shakespeare's Hamlet and also has an association with Christianity."They were believed to be the orchid that grew at the bottom of Christ's meant that they've got little spots on their leaves, and that was thought to be from the drops of blood from the crucifixion," added Mr Dodds.
BBC News
13-06-2025
- BBC News
Eric Young Orchid Foundation curator wants more visitors
The new curator of a Jersey flower attraction has vowed to "spread the love of orchids" beyond the Griffis, 35, has moved with his family from the United States to head up the Eric Young Orchid previously worked for an orchid farm in Hawaii and for the last 10 years managed a collection of the flowers in Longwood Gardens, said the Victoria Village site was one of the global leaders in hybridising species and making new ones throughout the last 40 years "because of the innovative work done here". Mr Griffis said he wanted the foundation to "spread the knowledge and love of orchids" in Jersey and said: "We are standing on the precipice of the opportunity to optimise everything we've been doing for the last 40 years - to make our procedures more efficient, to maximise and codify our mission and share it with the world."Mr Griffis said the display house, which featured ruins covered with 200 -300 flowering orchids throughout the year, was "one of Jersey's hidden gems" that he wanted more people to said: "It's a place to experience the beauty and joy of orchids and it's a place to experience warmth and light when it's cold and dreary."He added he was also keen to display orchids around the world at flower shows.
South China Morning Post
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong display strikes gold at Chelsea Flower Show with rare orchids
The Chelsea Flower Show, held in London every summer for more than a century, is a British institution drawing around 150,000 gardening enthusiasts to enjoy spectacular floral displays. Advertisement This year, there was an exhibit with a difference, featuring rare orchids from Hong Kong and other parts of Asia and the Pacific. The vibrant display, with orchids from Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden in the New Territories, won a coveted gold medal and was visited by Queen Camilla. It also sent a powerful message about the need to protect the ecologically significant but endangered plants. 'We have got 150,000 bees in to look at the orchids,' said John Parke Wright IV, chairman of Orchid Conservation Chelsea, referring to the show's visitors. 'They are being pollinated with ideas about conservation and why it is important.' The Hong Kong section at the Chelsea Flower Show. Photo: Cliff Buddle Wright, who knows China well having worked for Jardine Matheson in the 1970s, was instrumental in forming the orchid group, comprising 25 institutions globally.
CTV News
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Calgary Orchid Show to feature 20,000 species from all over the world
The Calgary Orchid Show kicks off at the Genesis Centre, with vendors from all over the world in town for the event, along with local growers.
