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Today, we're going on a road trip. Let me just explain. If you're new to my channel
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hi, I'm Amanda Matthews. I share my tips about how to grow orchids indoors. In the midst of
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all this indoor gardening with orchids and finding the right light, finding the right temperature
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Orcids grow in every single continent except for Antarctica where it gets sub-zero weather. So, of course
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Orchids have to grow naturally in Kansas. How can I find orchids in nature
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So what I started doing was looking for organizations who already had cataloged orchids that grew by state
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And I did find one. Go to your Google tab and you can type Go Orchids, which is the name of the website
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and they have an amazing catalog of orchids by location. It's the second box right here
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It's find an orchid by location. And here you type in your state
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So I'm going to type in Kansas and search. And it comes up with all the native orchids that are in your area
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And I mean, I didn't even realize there were how many 20 in Kansas that actually
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grow here. What you're going to do now is you're going to click on each one and it gives you a little
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like growth area type thing and what the habitat is. One that I am particularly, oh this one is
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the one that I love, lady slipper. What I am looking for today is actually the Oklahoma
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grass pink because I think this is easier found in my area. And
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and also the coral root. This one right here. So those are the two that I'm actually looking for
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because I think they have more probability of being around. You'll need to go through each one of these
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and see what is in your area. So today we're gonna go on a little road trip
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and I encourage you to do this yourself. There are just some things that I do want to say
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before you actually go on this. Number one, when you find an orchid in nature, leave it in nature
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Do not pick it up. Do not want to bring it home Sometimes these orchids that grow in nature are extremely are endangered because exactly this We orchid lovers love to take orchids home So just leave it there
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Be like Bigfoot and Sad Squashed and aliens and all those other things that do not leave a trace and leave the orchid in nature
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The second thing that I want to say is when you find this orchid and you're tempted to take it out of its natural environment, don't
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because indoors it's almost impossible to recreate this environment because outside they can have relationships with fungus
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They can have relationship with other insects and animals that help them grow and procreate
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And indoors, we will not have that. Third, once you find an orchid, you might want to tell a botanical garden or a nature organization near you
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but do not post it on social media. And why do I say this? Because even though you are
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conscious about leaving this orchid in nature, other people are not. And once people find out
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hey, there's a wild orchid growing out here. It's easily ripped out of the environment by people
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who mean well. They want to have amazing flower inside their house, but they end up killing the
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environment. So just leave it there, report it to the right people. And that's
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Now that we know these three things, let's go out and have some fun
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One thing that is awesome about trying to find orchids in nature is that you won't be able to find it where everyone else goes
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the orchards won't be on the in the middle of the known path. You always have to take the
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unknown path and go into places where you never thought you'd be going in the first place
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about doing these wild institute nature orchid hunts is that you learn so many new things
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that you never hold on here going to go in a fall you learn so many new things For example I always heard that orchids are not parasites and they just attach to the tree to hold on to provide stability
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When I made my list of orchids to search for while I'm here
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I found that one, which is the Coraliza Listeriana or the spring coral root
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it actually is a parasite because it falls down on the soil
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and it doesn't grow roots right away. It doesn't have the leaf to grow right away
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So this orchid called the coral orchid is going to fall down onto the soil
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which is actually a terrestrial orchid, and then it's going to depend on the fungus that is in the soil to be
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It's going to depend on the fungus that is in the soil to provide the roots, all the nutrition for the first few years of its life
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It's not going to produce any leaf or it's not going to produce anything that is, you know
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to photosynthesize. And I'm going to just get a panoramic here because this place is amazing
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I mean, look at that. The water's like a turquoise green. And I don't know if the microphone's picking up, but you can hear the birds behind me
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Or in front of me, they're all around me. Another tip about trying to find orchids in nature and their natural habitat is always look at the times and months that they're in bloom
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Because an orchid that isn't in bloom is really hard to identify. It kind of looks like all the other
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natural habitat that's around it. And sometimes orchid leaves can be deceiving. Sometimes you think
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because we're so used to the phalanopsis orchid or the catelea orchid or dendrobrium, and we kind of forget
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that there are 760 genre of orchids. And in those, there are more than 28,000 species. So if you don't know
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the months that it's in bloom, it's hard to actually identify these orchids in the wild
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I think that's a frog. Can you hear it? I pick it up microphone
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Hope you can hear it Another thing that you need to take notice of when you out in nature looking for these orchids is when you find one observe what the light patterns are
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Because most of these orchids are going to be terrestrial orchids. And if you can see the, I mean, it's not a close canopy above me, but how much light is around them
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how much light is actually getting to the leaf of the orchid. Always tell someone where you're going, when you're going to come back
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leave your plans, leave yourself out with someone you know. I mean, I know this sounds like an obvious hint, but we sometimes think
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oh, well, we're just out here looking for flowers. I mean, nothing's going to happen right
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So seriously, tell someone where you are. Most of the orchids that you will find in nature and wild
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are not the ones that are going to grow on trees, at least in the United States, they're going to be terrestrial orchids
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So observe the conditions. They're usually under a thick layer of moss or a thick layer of leaf litter
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And that's what's going to hold their nutrients in. It's going to hold their supply of moisture because they usually are around streams
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Don't fumble with the orchid. Don't, you know, like rip it up out of its place
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But you can move a little of the top layer of what's around it
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So you get an idea of how that orchid grows. So when you observe that
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oh, Jesus, a spider web bush. Okay. Clearing the spider web first
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Okay, this is not the way I came. Turning around. Oh, that's when you pause a video
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Another tip when you're preparing to come out to these places like this
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never forget to use insect repellent. I mean, just pick your favorite. And because it's tough
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out here. I mean, orchids love it, but so do insects. So be prepared. Have fun while you're there
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I mean, swim, jump in the water, play in the waterfalls. Have fun. I mean, we're probably not kids
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again, but we can always be kids at heart. Be sure to actually do this. Don't just put it on a list
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of things to do, get out there and do it. If you have not seen the video about the Missouri Botanical
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Gardens, you can click over here and see this video. And the other video down here is something
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else that YouTube recommends. So I hope you enjoy it and happy cultivating
