This narrow leaved medium sized cool growing epiphyte comes from Peru. It was registered by Luer in 2002, but other than that there is not much information to find about this species. No collection data exists and it is not very common in cultivation. I got mine from Peruflora last spring and this is the first time it is blooming for me. The flowers are light pink with […]
Prosthechea vitellina, formerly known as Encyclia vitellina, is a medium sized epiphyte found in Mexico to Cental America where it primarily grows in oak or pine forests and cloud forests at altitudes of 1400 to 2600 meters. It is an intermediate to cool grower that enjoys a lot of light. I grow mine potted in sphagnum moss in the intermediate window, very bright with supplemental lighting year round. It […]
This lovely little gem is blooming again – or perhaps I should say “large” as the flower measures almost 1 cm which is rather large for Lepanthes. The flamboyant purple-striped flower is hanging precariously on a nearly impossibly thin inflorescence that blooms several times in succession. This one started blooming last summer and bloomed all through winter and is now going at it again after only a couple of […]
The Chief Masdevallia, a common name that is just oh so fitting for this incredible orchid! I have impatiently been watching the long flower spike develop for a few months now, but it has been well worth the wait. The flower is just stunningly beautiful and breathtakingly large. The flower is 4 cm wide and measures an impressive 35 cm from dorsal sepal […]
This is one of my favorite Stelis species. I just adore the deep blood red color and the fine light hairs on the perfectly shaped flowers. Most Stelis have this shape, three symmetrically rounded sepals that form a triangle with the column, small petals and small lip in the center. I grow it rather bright and humid, mounted on EpiWeb in the cool vivarium. It is […]
This is a very happy and proud time for me as an orchid grower. I have sooo many lovely Lepanthes in bud or bloom right now that I have not had time to photograph them all – let alone blog about them! It is a fairly recent fascination of mine, Lepanthes, but it has quickly become a passionate one. Lepanthes is very a large genus of miniature […]
Leptotes is a very small orchid genus of only nine species from Brazil, Paraguay or Argentina. Five of the recorded species have been described as late as this millennium, so perhaps it is not so strange that they are quite rare in cultivation. But still I cannot help wondering why this is such an under appreciated genus.
Leptotes bicolor is a lovely epiphyte from the subtropical rainforests and […]
This lovely Dracula has been blooming for me non-stop since last summer. The four flower spikes just keep on producing new flowers one after the other. You can see the next bud on deck behind the flower in the photos. I really love the classic Dracula “monkey face” along with the spiky hairs of the flowers… they look like icicles or tiny stalactites. The […]
This amazing creation has been well worth waiting for… I have been watching the scary looking buds swell for weeks now and finally the amazing, fleshy and brutal creations have opened! It is something straight out of an H.R. Giger painting …or perhaps Little Shop of Horrors – and I love it!! I knew what the flowers were supposed to look like when I […]
It is not hard to see how this Masdevallia got its name. The elegantly compressed sepaline tube is very distinct and somewhat reminiscent of a swan’s neck. Although I find the shape curiously intriguing, what is most impressive about this species is the sheer size of the flower in comparison to the plant. The flower is held well above the leaves and the long and […]