One of my favorite geophytes is the terrestrial orchid, Bletilla striata, sometimes called Bletilla hyacinthina or Bletia hyacinthina. Growing in my garden now for more than twenty years, this tough, hardy orchid never fails to reward me yearly with numerous tall sprays of richly hued, rosy fuchsia to rosy purple flowers exactly the "orchid" color of and similar in shape to its big cousins, the corsage Cattleyas.

A.W. Darnell, in his landmark book ORCHIDS FOR THE OUTDOOR GARDEN, first published in 1930 by L. Reeve & Co., Ltd., Ashford, Kent, England, published again in 1976 by Dover Publications, Inc., New York, NY, describes the root of B. striata as "a depressed tuber", the stem as "about 12 inches tall, slender, erect", the leaves as "basal ... linear-lanceolate or lanceolate, about 9 inches long, the raceme as "4-6 inches long, of about 6 blossoms" and the "flowers about 1 1/2 inches across".

I have to wonder if Mr. Darnell was examining a dwarf or undernourished form of this pretty orchid. In my yard, its flower stems grow from 18 inches to 33 inches tall with the leaves topping off at about 30 inches. The racemes grow from 6 inches to 12 inches long, and they frequently bear up to 11 or even 12 blossoms which are, as Darnell states, about 1 1/2 inches across.

Mr. Darnell goes on to say, "The plant is usually found in dry soil on the margins of thickets in China and Japan". Perhaps its love for dry soils is one of the reasons this gem grows and blooms so well in the area surrounding Los Angeles, California. Our area was wrested from the desert only a short geological moment ago, and it would return to its desert condition within a short time were it not for the extensive irrigation systems which keep our yards green - but sometimes only green - year-round. Here, B. striata quickly forms thick clumps which, along with its tall stems, tall leaves and good flowering habits tells me that this living jewel is happy in its Southern California home away from home.

Darnell states that in its native habitats, B. striata "reaches its greatest elevation of 10,000 feet on the mountains of Western Yunnan". This surprising statement ("surprising" because we don't usually think of orchids as plants which endure being thrust 10,000 feet into the sky; sounds cold to me!) overshadows his next: "It is quite hardy in Great Britain in a sheltered half-shady spot in the rock garden in well drained loam and leafsoil". After the rigors it must meet jutting into the clouds in some of its native habitats, its hardiness under conditions such as those found in British gardens is not quite so surprising. In my own garden, about 600 feet above sea level, its hardiness is not in question, even though the winter nighttime temperatures will sometimes drop below 20' F.

I have seen B. striata in old clumps of varying sizes in the terraced gardens of a mansion located on top of one of the Hollywood Hills just south of Griffith Park. The owner of this estate during the early 1960s was a friend of mine who told me that the mansion was build by a wealthy lumberman during the late 1920s when Hollywood was rich and wild, yet still maintained an "everyone-knows-everyone-else" village atmosphere. It may be hard to think of the current Hollywood as a once-upon-a-time cozy community (old-timers swear it was) but it's not so hard to think of a wealthy lumberman, newly married, sparing no expense in decorating and furnishing his new home for himself and his wife. I was told that many a party with many a Hollywood celebrity was held in that magnificent home.

In spite of the fact that the mansion itself was resplendent with wall and ceiling paintings decorating the rooms, gold leaf emblazoning some of the doors and paintings, ten bedrooms, a grand salon with a view plus expensive furniture and an atmosphere of opulence throughout, the gardens presented an entirely different picture. They looked as though the owner hadn't a clue what to do with them after the terracing was completed. It's true I was seeing the gardens more than three decades after their beginning. Still, one would have thought that even after thirty-plus years there would be more of interest in these gardens than just a path, a few herbaceous perennials, the hillside terracing, some starved-looking trees, and scattered pyracantha and camellia bushes which also looked starved.

And then there were those Bletilla striata clumps, many, many, clumps, scattered about the gardens, all looking starved themselves but blooming cheerily away, announcing to all who saw them that their small needs were being met with the air and sunshine, the poor soil and rainwater of their hilltop home. I told my friend, the estate's owner, that the pretty magenta flowers decorating his property were orchids. He laughed off this reality with "No, I don't think they're orchids, I think they're some kind of a bulb". I didn't press the point.

I spotted another splendid stand of B. striata several years later along the side of a yard in Temple City, California (about 20 miles east of the Hollywood clumps). I was walking along a street of that city when suddenly, there they were, hundreds and hundreds of plants, all growing in a thick profusion, tubers crowding one another, some tubers partially protruding out of the soil.

At ground level, this massive clump was a mess. Above ground level, however, it was magnificent. These plants were far better cared for than their Hollywood relatives and there were flowers galore. What a sight! I shall never forget it.

In my own yard my B. striata clumps are modest by comparison. Yet they put on a splendid show every spring, egged on, no doubt, by adequate water and occasional fertilizer.

There are at least three forms of B. striata in Southern California, the type being the most common. In addition, B. striata var. alba has nearly white flowers with just a flush of lavender pink. This variety seems to be less vigorous than the type. The variety with white leaf edges which I received without a name (var. albo-marginata?) maintains both the fuchsia flowers of the type as well as its vigor. There may be other varieties and forms with which I am unfamiliar.

While the mother tubers of this orchid grow, bloom and increase with abandon and while I have seen many seed pods on my plants which yielded thousands, perhaps millions, of tiny seeds, I have never yet spotted a seedling. Probably the mycorrhizal fungus these orchid seeds may need in order to germinate and develop into plants is missing from my soil.

I recommend this easy, eye-catching plant to any geophytophile (bulb lover). It's a pleasure to grow and it's always fun to point it out to garden visitors by saying "Now here's an orchid I really like", and then watch their faces as they wrestle with whether or not I'm kidding them about B. striata's being an orchid.

It is an orchid, though, and another of Nature's living jewels.