My 88 year-old uncle-in-law recently reluctantly decided to give up his house and garden to move to a flat that was easier to maintain. One of the sacrifices he was forced to make was his orchids, which he offered to me. He admitted he knew very little about them. He didnÂt even know they were Cattleyas, just "orchids" but assured me he had looked after them well  though this turned out to mean "had done nothing" - and planted them in the "best soil". This latter raised my eyebrows a little but when I saw the plants I could see they were all superb specimens. When I got them home my first thought, nevertheless, was to replant them out of what appeared to be nothing more than ordinary garden dirt into something more suitable, but they were all so root-bound within their large clay pots this proved to be impossible without causing damage and as two were already about to flower I decided to leave them as they were.

Now if you or I had decided to grow these plants in this barbaric way we would undoubtedly have killed them, so how did my uncle get away with it? Well, to begin with they were left out on the ground in the garden, which of course you can do in Brazil and were heavily shaded by the broad leaves of a large chayote vine. This must have deflected nearly all the rain as well as the sun and the plants were therefore nearly always very dry. Not a slug or snail had touched them either, amazingly. I am trying to find a similar location here in my own garden, itÂs not very easy! I think Senhor Silvio just lived a charmed life. He told me he is thinking of getting married again anyway.... I think this clone is probably BLC Pastoral Alba. It is very popular here and not difficult to see why. It has a classic scent.