Best of blooms at 47th annual Manawatū Orchid Society show this weekend

Alex Crawley of Rongotea has been seriously growing orchids for four years after he inherited his father-in-law's plants.

Alex Crawley of Rongotea has been seriously growing orchids for four years.

He will be showing some of his prize blooms at the 47th annual Manawatū Orchid Society show at the weekend in the Community Leisure Centre.

Crawley has a horticulture background, but only came to orchids when he retired.

In his garden sheds, of which he has five, are orchids to fascinate and delight.

The delicate orchid bloom is deceptive.

"They are bloody near as tough as cactus," says Crawley, who inherited some orchids from his father-in-law, Russell Gardner.

He repotted between 30 and 40 of the inherited plants and continues his serious hobby of bringing plants back from the dead, and watching as plants present him with a new surprise bloom.

Crawley says orchids are the biggest group of plants in the world.

"We have plenty to choose from," he says, explaining that most orchids are epiphytes, at the top of the evolutionary scale in plants.

An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water or from debris accumulating around it.

Epiphytes take part in nutrient cycles and add to both the diversity and biomass of the ecosystem in which they occur.

There are terrestrial orchids too.

As beguiling as some orchids are, there's the Nepenthes, a genus of carnivorous plants that traps insects.

Crawley has one of the 170 in this genus, with big cups that are a part of the leaf to trap unsuspecting insects.

Flowers can last up to two to three months, and Crawley adds that there is no such thing as luck when growing orchids.

'The harder you work the better the result."

Which explains that orchids are not fast growing, with a plant making a show three to five years from seed.

The names of the orchids are as interesting as the bloom.

There's Dancing Lady, cymbidium Torchbeam's inner glow, anabilis alba, and the rock lily from the Sydney area that grows up the coast of Australia, Dendrobium Speciosum.

Locally grown orchids and orchid plants and supplies are for sale on September 26, 10am-4pm, and September 27,10am-3pm, in the Community Leisure Centre, 569 Ferguson St. Free admission.