I was looking at our patch of Bletilla 'Brigantes'...a hardy orchid hybrid between Bletilla striata and Bletilla ochracea and wondering what its offspring would look like.  I recalled that the late plantsman Don Jacobs grew bletillas from seed in his window sill, so I figured we'd give it a try.  If you've never handled orchid seed, it's a bit like handling tiny dust particles.  We harvested the seed before the pods cracked open and sowed them like we do our fern spores, and sealed them in a ziploc bag.  Sure enough, they germinated, and two years later actually flowered.  These are a sampling of the amazing variation from the 200 seedlings we potted.  We'll select a good representative sample of the variation including any unique individuals and plant them out in trial beds and watch how they develop.  How exciting! Read more [...]