There is no better recommendation for calanthes than that implied in their name, which means "beautiful flower." That is exactly what they are. They are not often found in greenhouses because their foliage takes up too much room. But once you have seen them you will want them; once you grow them, their easy culture will surprise you and you will find yourself adding more and more of them to your collection. They require little attention and offer much in return, with their three-foot spikes of tightly clustered flowers: yellow, rose, and white.

If you have a shaded terrace, a spreading shade tree, a natural glen, or a lath house, you can (and should) grow calanthes, even though your spring-to-fall season may be unduly short. Their foliage, among the most beautiful of all plants, is a superb, though temporary, addition to your garden. The leaves are long, about two and one-half feet wide, and gracefully arched. Indoors you will need the largest window and will find that two plants take up nearly all the space. A dozen calanthes in full foliage in a greenhouse will give it the appearance of being loaded with exotic plants.

The flowers, twenty or more to a stem—each several inches wide—are among the toughest in the orchid tribe when grown outdoors. They will remain fresh for as long as two months on the plants and for about four weeks when cut. As table decorations or as corsages they have few peers. In greenhouses the flowers do not keep so well nor ship easily.

One of the first orchids to be introduced to cultivation, Calanthe veratifolia flowered in England in 1823, and in the days when most orchids were grown by guess and by luck, calanthe hybrids were the first orchid hybrids to be raised artificially. Mr. Dominey, the grower at the old Veitch nursery in London's Chelsea, where so many orchids first embarked on their captive existence, produced Calanthe x dominii in 1858. Somewhat later he presented orchid culturists with Calanthe x veitchii, which remains to this day one of the most beautiful hybrid orchids developed.

The cultural requirements of calanthes are simple, although there is confusion about their temperature demands. English growers insist that they are warm orchids and require greenhouses. Many American growers, on the other hand, classify them as cool. In Florida and adjacent states and in the Pacific Southwest they are grown in gardens and lath houses the year round in spite of temporary frosts—although winter protection in a greenhouse is desirable. Apparently, they can adapt themselves well enough to the milder American climates so that they are not injured by a little cold now and then. This is borne out, in fact, by the mean average temperature of the countries to which they are native. From Africa to Australia, from India to Japan, and particularly in the lower Himalayas, they are found at altitudes where the temperature varies from 60o° to 68°. This, for many orchids, is cool indeed. Nevertheless, wherever you grow them, as greenhouse or garden subjects, their cultural needs don't vary.

Botanically, the calanthes are divided into two groups-deciduous (or winter-blooming) and evergreen (or summer-blooming). The latter is often listed as an epiphyte, the former as a terrestrial; but both are grown in soil composts in cultivation. Oddly enough, the two groups may not be so closely related as botanists believe. The deciduous and evergreen subfamilies have not been, and cannot be, crossed to produce hybrid progeny.

It is interesting, too, and strange that the largest and most beautiful flowers are found in the deciduous section—C. vestita, C. rosea, and their hybrids. Deciduous calanthes lose their foliage before the flowers appear. This makes them a bit awkward for decorative gardening, but it adds a quality of unusualness. An old English gardener once achieved momentary notoriety when he truthfully remarked, "Calanthes remind me of molting peacocks that have lost their body feathers and kept their gaudy tails!" However, for the sake of appearances, it is best to tuck the bare pseudobulbs among other foliage plants, permitting only the flowers to show their heads.

January to March is the best time to buy deciduous calanthes, and to start them on their seasonal cycle of growth. Set the pseudobulbs, singly and cleaned of all roots and exhausted soil, upright on flats of moist sand. Keep the flats in a warm, dry spot until the new growth, which is initiated at the base of the pseudobulbs, is about an inch high, and root primordia are barely visible. Be careful, for at this stage cold and dampness are fatal. Direct sunlight, even semishade, is injurious. A mild sort of light, not too strong, is desirable.

It is always advisable to pot the pseudobulbs of calanthes singly. They are one of the half-dozen terrestrial orchid genera that may be propagated by single bulb divisions. Moreover, back bulbs do not often produce new growth if fresher bulbs are still attached. Treat calanthes much as you would dahlias that are started as single tubers. You will be surprised how often, year after year, old pseudo-bulbs send up new growths and make new bulbs, which in turn produce increases. Sometimes young pseudobulbs are initiated from the apex of old ones. Unfortunately, these small bulbs must be cut off. They inhibit bottom growth, which is the best. Don't throw them away though; pot them up. Sometimes they develop into excellent plants. For small bulbs, four-inch pots are about right; for the larger ones, five-inch pots are more suitable. Calanthes produce a lot of roots when in active growth and when the cultural conditions are correctly followed.

The compost in which calanthes are potted is the standard mixture of leafmold and gravel. There are many variations, but the standard mixture, offering the plants completely free root action, is not easy to surpass. Some old-time gardeners like to throw a small handful of old steer manure into the bottom of the pot before adding the compost. This practice is of doubtful value. Calanthes require copious amounts of water while growing, and the nutrients in the manure are frequently leached out before the roots reach the bottom of the pot. Most growers prefer a planned program of weekly feeding. Some swear by liquid manure, others by commercial liquid concentrates that are diluted. Both are good, provided that they are not overdone. Don't feed calanthes until root action is vigorous. Don't feed them heavily. Twice a month in spring and fall, once a week in summer, is about the right frequency.

Calanthes are easy to pot. Throw enough compost into your pots to fill them lightly to the rim. Firm the compost gently in order to leave a watering space. Push the pseudo-bulbs about a half inch into the compost, just deep enough to hold them erect. Store the pots in a heated cold frame, gradually acclimating them to increasing light and lower temperatures. This is the common garden procedure for hardening seedlings. When frost danger is past, place them in a semishady location in your garden. In autumn, as the leaves begin to yellow and drop off, replace them in cold frames. Watch for the flower stalks to develop from the base of the bulbs. When the stems are about twelve inches high, bring the plants into the house. Put them on a table or shelf near a well-lighted window and watch them bloom their heads off for you. It is much in their favor that calanthes, when in flower, will not be harmed by dry-ness in the room but will be injured by excessive heat. A cool room helps the flowers last longer. If you can keep the temperature, both night and day, at not more than 65° F., the flowers will be sturdier.

The real trick in growing calanthes, other than frost protection, is in watering. After potting, they are watered lightly and carefully, and not too often: just enough to force root development and to help them along. As the new growth reaches a height of six inches, and the roots thoroughly penetrate the compost, increase the amount of water you give them. Thoroughly saturate the pots as often as they become nearly dry. At this time it is hard to overwater calanthes. As the foliage commences to wither, slack off on water. Roots at this time have no way of utilizing much water; and a lack of it also tends to stimulate flower stems into active growth. Water lightly and occasionally until the flowers die or until you cut them off. Dry out the pots and store them in a cool, dry place. Or knock out the pseudobulbs, clean them, remove all roots, and store them on dry sand in a dry cellar. The former method of storage is the best, if you have the room. Like begonia tubers, the roots of calanthes do not die completely. Left in the pots, the pseudobulbs seem to continue developing. They are hardier, stronger, and produce better growth the following year.

A sharp knife is essential in dividing calanthe pseudobulbs. Clippers and shears tear the plant tissues, and bacterial infections are likely to result. Neither are you likely to slice through dormant eyes if you use a knife.

In cultivation, calanthes do better if repotted each year. It means a little extra work, but the dividend in rapidly increasing stock makes it worth while. Save your old compost, however. Let it air-dry, and mix it later in about equal proportions with fresh compost. While calanthes need plenty of light, there is something about our temperate sunlight that injures them. In the United States they like semishade, the filtered light that passes through lightly foliated trees; although in the western states they have been given full sun up to ten or eleven o'clock in the morning with beneficial results. In greenhouses a thin coating of whiting or a sleazy muslin is usually sufficient to break up and diffuse direct light.

The evergreen varieties of calanthes—in particular, C. veratifolia, C. muscata, and their progeny—are not grown generally by commercial orchidists. They take up too much space with their large foliage in proportion to the small price the flowers bring during the summer off-season trade. For amateurs, as far as foliage is concerned, they are more desirable plants than their deciduous cousins. Coming from the higher mountain ranges, they can stand lower temperatures, although it is not a good practice to let the temperature drop below 50 ° in glasshouses or leave them outdoors too long. In the drier climate of Southern California they have withstood temperatures as low as 32°, but exposing them to such low temperatures is not good practice.

Their soil requirements are the same as those for the deciduous group, except that they do not grow well in pots in which the compost is packed. In New South Wales, Australia, C. veratifolia is found near streams, growing in decayed litter so loose that plants may be pulled up easily without grubbing them out. They are watered, winter and summer, rather continuously. But they are harmed by cold, soggy composts, particularly at night, and therefore should be watered only during the morning hours.

During hot summer days, the foliage of plants outdoors may be syringed once or twice. Those in the house may be sponged. This is done not so much to create humidity as to cool the plants. Early afternoon is late enough in the day to syringe them. Water left on the foliage at night has a tendency to spot the leaves.

When it is necessary to repot evergreen calanthes, they can be knocked out of the old pots and divided in the same manner as their deciduous cousins. Preferably, though, they are left in clumps of two or three pseudobulbs. They look much better when allowed to fill pots with their exotic foliage. They, too, are benefited by lots of light, but it must be filtered. In California they have been grown indiscriminately beneath orange, eucalyptus, walnut, and apple trees. They are not harmed if the pots are plunged into the ground; it keeps their roots cool. In this way, they have been summered beneath azalea and camellia hedges and wintered in large cold frames or small greenhouses. Their exotic flowers and foliage are a pleasing contrast to the narrow foliage of other subtropical plants.

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