Platystele microtatantha is one of the smallest orchids in the world. The flower is not much bigger than the tip of a pen at about 2-3 mm or so, I admit it is a bitch to measure… The whole plant, even though it is quite a healthy specimen, does not measure more than a couple of centimeters across. The worlds smallest orchid ever […]
Such a beautiful and exotic looking orchid…. this is one I am kind of holding on to even though I don’t really have the space. I have bloomed it sucessfully on the windowsill, but I get one, perhaps two flowers. In the warm/intermediate vivarium I get about 5 flowers per bulb, and all the bulbs bloom. So I grow it in the very, […]
This is one of several types of Trichosalpinx orbicularis, a warm to intermediate growing epiphyte from Central- to nothern South America where it grows at elevations of 180 to 1500 meters. I just could not stop photographing this fantastically photogenic species, such amazingly showy and voluptuous flowers. They measure about 2,5 mm. each and are held like a bunch of 9-10 grapes under the leaf. The coloration […]
This fascinating looking species hail, as the name suggests, from Costa Rica. It produces a remarkable display of flowers with an uncanny resemblance to a flock of birds resting on a wire. A fairly forgiving species, a strong grower both in the shade and in brighter conditions. Apparently it can produce multiple inflorescences per pseudobulb, but mine has produced but one with twelve flowers this year. […]
I am really enjoying the Neofineta season this year… I have had one plant after the other releasing each other since this summer, filling the orchid room with the lovely scent of vanilla and spices. This is the regular white variety, but a fairly recent acquisition (‘Hisui’) with a nice yellow hue is coming up next, the buds are about to open any day […]
Vandas on summer vacation usually pays off in a big way. Here is one of this season’s vacationers that is blooming right now. Such a lovely mini, the flowers measure no more than 2 cm across but the sheer amount make up for any shortcomings in size. The the intense orange color shine like a sun in the fall gloom of […]
I have not had a whole lot of time to write lately, and I have had soooo much to write about too! There is so much blooming over here right now that I have not had the time to photograph them all. But I have a pretty good reason for it. I am very pleased to announce that […]
Everytime my princess blooms it costs me money. Not to say it is really her fault or really that bad of a thing, but every time she blooms I fall in love with Vandas all over again and I go shopping for more. This time she cost me a Vanda tricolor var. suavis… Granted, a species I have been […]
Some orchids are just amazing bloomers, and this is definitely one of those. It blooms with this intense vigor twice a year in spring and fall with a sweet display of 30+ fragrant flowers with a lovely scent of honey. Masdevallia roseola is a miniature intermediate to cool growing epiphyte from Peru and Ecuador where it grows at elevations of 1500 to 1900 meters. I grow […]
This intermediate, small growing epiphyte grows at at 1700 meters on the eastern slopes of the central cordillera in Colombia. It is commonly called “the copper-colored Restrepia”, and it is not hard to see why. The deep color almost seem metallic under the lights. I got it from Ecuagenera in May, and it is now blooming for the first time. I grow it mounted […]