Hello, I live in south Florida, zone 10b, and I saw these plants with "airing roots" attached to a palm tree trunk. I am curious to know the name of the plant? Thank you.
Thank you for your quick reply. This is a nice orchid, first time I saw this one. Do you think I can put orchid right outside attached to a trunk like they did, even if the orchid will be in full sun for most of the day? Shouldn't they be in the shade, maybe protected from wind too? I also have phalaenopsis, can I place them also outside in full sun, or in the shade of a tree? Thanks, maybe these above questions should be posted in a separate thread and not under plant identification, but if you know more about orchid, thanks for sharing.
In my experience with Epidendrums, they will take a lot of abuse and bloom right through it with no ill effects - so you don't need to shelter it. If the one in the picture was growing and blooming in full sun on the trunk of a palm tree, you can do the same with yours. My own are purple-flowered versions of those ones, and they live in one of the least hospitable corners of my yard - full baking sun and most of the wind as well. They're doing just fine, too - I hose them down every day after sunset. For Epis, in my experience, the wind and sun just make them stronger. In the wild, they're often found at the top of trees, which is the sunniest and windiest location in the forest. Phals I have no experice with - I grow hardy species orchids native to Ecuador, so my involvement with Phals is that I see them in the supermarket once in a while and that's about it. If you ask in the Orchids forum, you should get some feedback from people who do grow them - I'd imagine that they would be a shade-grown orchid, but really I have no clue.
Although, technically, Epidendrums of that sort are terrestrial (ie roots in soil) - the air roots have more to do with holding them fast to whatever it is they're climbing....
