10" Container
Unlike many orchids, award-winning Bletilla striata (Chinese Ground Orchid) is an easy-to-care-for hardy terrestrial orchid. It produces small, cattleya-like, pinkish-purple flowers, 2 in. wide (5 cm), in pretty racemes of up to 12 blooms. Rising artfully above the foliage, each exotic-looking flower has five spreading petals with an undulating, furrowed lower lip. Blooming for about 4-6 weeks in early to mid-summer, the flowers open from the bottom of the raceme and progress to the top. Each pseudobulb produces 3-5 upright, pleated, sword-shaped, pale green leaves which add interest and distinction to the landscape from mid-spring until the frost cuts them down. Green seedheads follow the blooms, but gradually turn brown as they mature. As attractive in pots and containers as it is in beds and borders.
Height: 1 - 2'
Spread: 1'
Spacing: 3 - 6"
Exposure: Part Sun (4 to 6 Hours)
Blooms: Summer