One of the easiest orchids to grow at home is Phaius grandifolius, commonly known as the nun’s orchid.
Although the handsome foliage is large and palm-like, individual leaves are 2′ to 3′ feet long and 5″ or 6″ inches wide.
Growth is upright and compact, so a plant will take little room in your window. Plants are available by mail from orchid specialists and sell for under $10.
Phaius are terrestrial plants, which means they grow in soil, unlike the cattleya or familiar corsage orchid.
Phaius requires moisture at all times and good light, but direct sunlight is to be avoided. And the nun’s orchid will get along with a somewhat less humid atmosphere than cattleyas.
Ideal Environment
My plant grows all year round in my bedroom in a large picture window that faces almost due west. Here, it receives good light all day.
During the fall and winter months, sunlight does not reach through to touch the plant until late afternoon, but this is filtered through glass fiber curtains and doesn’t seem to bother the plant.
In summer, the direct and intense sun streams through the window shortly after midday. The window, however, is equipped with traverse draperies, and although of heavy material, good light is provided to the plant even when drawn to protect the foliage from the sun’s burning rays.
As phaius seems to have no dormant period, this evergreen plant requires moisture throughout the year.
If grown in a plastic pot, less frequent watering will be needed than in a clay pot. Indeed, a 6-inch plastic pot must only be watered once a week in winter and not more often than twice in summer.
Fertilizing and Mulching
Once monthly, after watering. I feed the plant a pint of weak liquid cow manure, increasing the dosage a month when flower capes appear.
Also, I mulch the plant with dehydrated cow manure, keeping a thin layer of sand over this.
The sprinkling of sand eliminates any objectionable odor from the mulch and prevents mold formation.
Sufficient humidity can be furnished by placing the pot in a baking dish of damp sand. Never attempt to increase humidity by wetting the foliage, as the leaves are water-sensitive and may be damaged.
On hot summer days, however, the foliage may be lightly mist-sprayed, but don’t overdo it, and be sure the leaves are dry by evening.
Care During Blooming Period
Phaius may bloom in February. March or April. Sometime in midwinter, a flower scape (or two or more) will appear from the base of the plant.
Growth is fairly rapid, but even so, you will watch for the orchid blooms daily, with expectant excitement at first and increased impatience later.
Then, one day, you will stand in front of your phaius as the lower bud on the scape unfurls its handsome tan-and-white petals.
I awakened one morning early in March to find that the first bud had opened sometime at night. The bloom, about 5” inches wide, had petals bone-white on the back, the front a lovely tan edged with a thin streak of bone-white.
The tubular lip, or labellum, about 2” inches long, was a lovely shade of carmine-red, the edge frilled and touched with that same tan.
I quickly put my eye to the lip, eager to see the “nun” inside, and experienced a thrill somewhat like that I once had on Easter morning as a child.
Do you remember the old-fashioned Easter eggs made of coarse sugar granules with a little round window at one end?
You peered inside, and there, to your amazed eye, appeared a breathtaking scene. Looking inside the labellum of the phaius orchid will produce the same thrill when you see the nun. However, you will get a better view if you carefully part the labellum.
The column inside resembles a nun, even with the hood on her head and her two tiny black eyes!
Propagation and Potting
Individual blooms last about ten days to two weeks before deteriorating, but your plant will remain in bloom for at least a month. When the last bloom fades, cut the scape off close to the bottom of the plant.
However, do not toss away the scape, for here is the source of new plants. Cut the stalk into about six-inch lengths, ensuring there are two nodes (swellings along the stem) to each.
Place the stems horizontally on vermiculite, keeping the medium damp, and place in a warm, shaded spot.
Many of these will undoubtedly rot (as they did for me), but just as undoubtedly, some dormant eyes will sprout to increase your stock of plants.
New plantlets will be large enough to detach from the scapes in four or five months. Pot these up in equal parts: loam, leaf mold, and sand.
However, a quicker way to increase your stock of blooming-sized plants is by dividing pseudo bulbs. Put each bulb in a separate pot.
44659 by Keith S. Phillips