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This is a Weeping Fig (Ficus benjamina for botany students.)
For three years, the plant battled against inadequate lighting and over-watering to the point where it lost half of its foliage. |
That left a lot of room for visitors...six young orchids, to be precise...Plants selected for their celebrated fragrance...but requiring more light and humidity than my environment provided (we'll get back to this).
The Orchids
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From Left to Right: Brassavola nodosa, Brassavola subulifolia (x2) Brassavola Little Star (x2) and Brassocattleya Jairak Kiku. The first three release their fragrance after the sun goes down, while "Kiku" does so during the daylight hours.
The Gadgets
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One Rube Goldberg Air Freshener
The fan is controlled by an inexpensive timer. The fan runs for thirty minutes, then rests for thirty. When the fan is ON, the humidifier's mist is blown over the four Phalaenopsis orchids on the coffee table.
When the fan is OFF, the humidifier's mist is blown over the orchids mounted on the benjamina tree.
This "on the fly" setup raises the humidity for all of the orchids by ten to fifteen percent (from roughly 40% to 55-65%).
These plants should begin blooming in five or six months; The downside to this potentially gorgeous display of blooms renowned for their fragrance is this: If all six plants bloom at the same time, the scent may simply be overwhelming. "Kiku" releases its fragrance during the day, while the other five do so in the evening, so the risk of overpowering fragrance is limited to after dark...
Let the games begin!
Related Reading
- American Orchid Society, Brassavola
- VanZile, Jon, How to Grow Brassavola Orchids