El Niño desert orchid A unique hybrid that's as tough as it is attractive
El Niño desert orchid is an ornamental shrub with pink-to-violet blooms in late spring and summer.
El Niño desert orchid’s fragrant blooms attract pollinators.
El Niño desert orchid has opposite-arranged, pointed leaves that create visual interest in the garden.
New woody ornamentals don’t come along as often as annual bedding plants. So when El Niño desert orchid hit the market, LSU AgCenter horticulturist Jason Stagg was excited to see the flowering shrub’s potential for Louisiana gardens.
Something else about this new plant intrigued Stagg. El Niño is a hybrid of an unusual pair of native plants: catalpa, a tree we are familiar with here in Louisiana, a…
