The cold hardiness is really interesting, especially the Neo's. I had the little Green Fly orchids out under my big oak tree for a few years, but I've lost them - literally! But I do have large swaths of Resurrection Fern in that tree so I'm hoping the orchids have seeded themselves there. I got my start from Mj some years back and she has lots of them growing on their property - inland, north of Orlando so it gets cold in winter there, too.
As far as not watering, while it's true that orchids survive in the wild with no help, our orchids that we coddle and care for probably perform twice as well, bloom more and live longer. So the question I'd have for your speaker would have been "have you tried an experiment where you water some (in dry weather) and don't water others?"
Because I don't want my orchids to just survive. Even my mounted Enc. tampensis out there on the oak branch get a spray with the hose if it doesn't rain for a week or so, and they get a taste of fertilizer once in a while. I do believe that the tree itself creates a friendly microclimate for the orchids, cooling it's area in hot weather and transpiring lots of moisture as well as dropping "stuff" all the time.
