About a year ago I rescued a native Earina autimnalis orchid that had fallen on to the road. I placed it on a tree with some sphagnum moss behind and watered it occasionally.
I was worried it wasn’t happy, but then new shoots started growing, and before I knew it, flower spikes emerged!
A conservation friend of mine, who has cared for native orchids, said she’s never seen them flower in captivity. So I wasn’t expecting much from the spikes.
Then today when I checked how the orchid was doing, It was flowering with some of the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen :).
Thank you, it’s native to New Zealand. I am growing it on spagnum (spagnum seeweed mix), the spagnum is dried, not killed, so it does not rot easily and may grow again if kept in the right conditions.
The spagnum is also apparently sustainably harvested in New Zealand. however I have my doubts on how sustainable it actually is, so Im trying to grow future batches myself (grows so slow, and im pretty bad at re-aliving it)