Plants
Boat Orchid
Cymbidium · Orchidaceae
The cymbidium, or boat orchid, is the queen of winter orchids: long, gracefully arching spikes with up to twenty waxy blooms that last two months and more in a cool spot. It is not a windowsill orchid for the warm living room but a cool-house plant with clear demands. Meet them and you are rewarded with one of the most spectacular displays of the orchid year — we buy it fresh at the Veiling Rhein-Maas from October to March.
- Light
- Very bright; full morning and evening sun is fine, only shade lightly against midday sun.
- Watering
- Generous and regular in summer, sparing in the cool winter quarters — never leave the root ball constantly wet.
- Care level
- Demanding
- Botanical
- Cymbidium
The name comes from the Greek „kymbos“, boat, after the boat-shaped lip of the flower. The trade offers large-flowered standard hybrids with blooms up to twelve centimetres across and more compact mini cymbidiums, which suit normal homes far better. The palette runs from clear green through cream and yellow to pink and brownish red, almost always with a patterned lip.
The key to this orchid is its origin in the Himalayan highlands: it wants to be cool. Ideal are 10 to 18 degrees Celsius — an unheated conservatory, a bright stairwell or a cool bedroom. In a warm living room above 20 degrees the buds drop and the flowering time shortens drastically.
The bloom trigger is the temperature drop of late summer. A cymbidium therefore belongs outdoors from May into October in a bright spot with light midday shade — the cool nights from August onwards initiate the flower spikes. Kept indoors year-round it will practically never rebloom.
Cymbidiums are unusually hungry and thirsty for orchids: they grow a dense ball of fleshy roots, want generous water in summer and regular feeding. Unlike Phalaenopsis they cope better with a briefly dried-out root ball than with constant wet in a cold winter quarter.
A typical mistake is repotting too early and too generously: cymbidiums flower best when the pot is well filled with roots, almost cramped. Repot only every two to three years after flowering, into coarse substrate and a pot only slightly larger.
In floristry the cymbidium appears twice over: as a pot plant and as a premium cut stem. Individual blooms last for weeks in water tubes and are a classic in bridal bouquets and fine table arrangements — few other flowers look this precious while lasting this well.
Is Boat Orchid toxic to children and pets?
- Children
- Non-toxic
- Cats
- Non-toxic
- Dogs
- Non-toxic
Like most orchids, cymbidiums are considered non-toxic to cats, dogs and people. As with all ornamentals, nibbling is still best discouraged.
Overview: toxic & non-toxic plants for cats, dogs and children
Care
- 01Keep it cool: 10–18 °C is ideal; warm living rooms shorten the flowering noticeably.
- 02Very bright with light midday shading — cymbidiums need more light than Phalaenopsis.
- 03Water generously in summer and feed fortnightly; reduce clearly in winter.
- 04Move it outdoors from May to October; cool late-summer nights trigger flowering.
- 05Repot only after flowering and only every two to three years, into a snug pot.
- 06Cut spent spikes off at the base; they will not flower again.
Frequently asked
- Is the cymbidium toxic to cats or dogs?
- No, like most orchids the boat orchid is considered non-toxic to cats, dogs and people. Nibbled leaves may at most cause a mild upset stomach.
- Why is my cymbidium dropping its buds?
- It is almost always too warm. Cymbidiums are cool-house orchids; above 20 degrees Celsius, especially in dry heated air, buds are shed and open blooms fade early. A cool, bright spot at 10 to 18 degrees solves the problem in most cases.
- How do I get my cymbidium to flower again?
- The key is a summer outdoors: grow it outside from May to October, bright with light midday shade, watered and fed well. The cool nights from August, around 8 to 12 degrees Celsius, initiate the flower spikes. Only shortly before the first frosts does it return to its cool winter quarters.
- How long do cymbidium flowers last?
- In a cool spot a spike flowers for six to ten weeks, and individual cut blooms last two to four weeks in a water tube. That makes cymbidium one of the longest-lasting flowers there is — provided it does not sit above a radiator.