Several regulars have asked when we will be selling plants next. Here is our growing sales table ready for more sales on our ETSY shop during the first week back after half term.

We have been watching a colony of bee orchids on a patch of ground behind the school since January when we first spotted the rosettes of several plants. We arranged for our grounds contractors not to mow the area and today the first flower opened. This area was just covered with subsoil back when the school was built in 2008 and the resulting low nutrient habitat is fantastic for lots of wild flowers as well as the bee orchids. There is another orchid species in the area which we guess is a pyramidal orchid – we will let you know in June.

Catching up with recent news we had a lovely day on May 7th at the Devon Orchid Show in Budleigh Salterton. Here is our sixth form team receiving their trophy from Saul. Thanks again to the lovely people of the Devon orchid Society.

Can I give a massive thank you to ex-student Dan Groves who set up WSBE orchids when a student at Writhlington (a long time ago) and has now updated all the things I don’t understand to ensure that the site is fully functional and future ready. Expect lots of news from the greenhouse over the next few weeks as well as some new contributors to our posts.

Simon

Each year one of our wonderful volunteer students is awarded Orchid Project Student of the year and this year’s winner is Dale Leakey for his lead in ensuring that the greenhouse is always a clean and healthy environment. Fallen leaves and detritus that can harbour disease and fungus in a greenhouse and should always be swept up and removed from the growing area.

Project leader Agnes Jones describes Dale as, “A real role model for other students. He uses his initiative, is always polite and is a really dependable member of the team.”