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I grew up on a thick yellow clay which left me with an innate caution when it comes to little fragile dry ground orchids, and I am always surprised when they prosper
in my current rather more benign conditions. Winter growing, and then running up to flower in late spring. After a couple of years being afraid to repot it in case I got the compost wrong and killed it, I finally stopped messing about last year, and it has grown enormously since. I should stop being quite so precious about things (not going to happen I'm afraid). Plants of the World online says: "The native range of this species is Medit. It is a tuberous geophyte and grows primarily in the subtropical biome." First Nature online says: "Arguably the most attractive of the rather curious-looking species of Tongue Orchids, probably due to its attractive pink colouration, Serapias lingua occurs throughout much of Europe in both Atlantic and Mediterranean countries. This is the type species of the Serapias genus. Serapias lingua tolerates a number of habitats and can be found in short alkaline or mildly acidic grassland, the garrigue and scrub. It also occurs in damp, marshy meadows and fields. Writing in the Bulletin of the AGS, John Good says: "This is a tuberous terrestrial orchid from stony meadows in southern Europe, centred around the Mediterranean. It loves a moist but well-drained soil and must not be allowed to dry out during the growing season and is safest kept in a frost-free greenhouse during the winter. Like all these orchids it is very susceptible to damage by slugs, which adore the new foliage." |
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| 17th April 2006 | ||
