I was picking up my pre-ordered plants from Ecuagenera at an orchid show back in September, and I asked Alex if he had anything special on the table I should consider. He suggested this Masdevallia rex, a species they had only recently begun selling. I took his advice and brought it home, and now it is blooming for the first time. One flower just opened, but there are a myriad of buds coming so […]
This is a really nice Paphiopedilum species, personally one of my favorites. I love the color combination, the super long flower spikes and the gorgeous mottled leaves. It is a strong grower in my collection, it has nearly crawled out of its pot and this year it produced two flowers that opened within days of one another. Paphiopedilum appletonianum is a medium sized, warm to cool growing species that can grow either as a terrestrial, lithophyte […]
I have been wanting to grow Trisetella for a long time, but the search for plants only started in earnest in March last year. I had held a lecture for the orchid society up in Stockholm, and at the meeting I met Thomas Höijer, the Swedish discoverer of Trisetella hoeijeri. He asked why I did not grow “his” orchid in my cool vivarium. Good question. I had seen the species at a friends a few years ago and immediately knew […]
I chose to celebrate this new year with a blog facelift. The old design has been up and running since 2009, and quite frankly, it was looking a bit old and dull. So it was time for a change! Everything is still here, it just looks and works a bit different. The main blog page now show excerpts and a slide show with rather tightly cropped photos as a preview, but if you […]
Two and a half years I have waited for this! I finally I figured out what makes this awesome orchid tick. Dresslerella caesariata is an intermediate to cool growing epiphyte from southeastern Ecuador where it can be found at elevations around 1700 to 1800 meters. I think I might have grown it a little too wet and shady the first two years, I moved it to a slightly drier and much brighter spot this spring, and here […]
Restrepia is one of the more flamboyant genera in the orchid world. The colors and patterns found in these species are just incredible. I think Restrepia brachypus is right up there with the most beautful ones with its striking bright yellow and rust striped lip and purple antennas. It is a cool to cold growing epiphyte from the mountains of South America where it can be found on altitudes from 1180 to 3200 meters. Flowers measure […]
An incredibly beautiful Lepanthes and a strong grower in my collection. It has been blooming continually since early summer and is still going showing no signs of slowing down. Flowers measure about 3 mm and the name refers to the reflexed dorsal sepal. I love the shape, severe and graceful all at once. The leaves are beautiful as well. This species really has it all, everything that makes Lepanthes great. See the cool illustration on […]
Oh you guys already know about this one. I have mentioned it before and I finished building it this summer, but here comes the photo evidence finally. The third vivarium in my very small growing space, but I make it work. It is nowhere near as large or as technically complex as the cool vivarium, but it does the job. It is an intermediate vivarium dedicated to vandacesous orchids, primarily Neofinetia but a few Vanda, Ascocenda […]
This is new to my collection. I bought it in bud from German grower Karge in September as I just cannot seem to resist anything Neofinetia, pure or not… This is a very nice Neofinetia cross called Ascofinetia Peaches, a name obviously inspired by the lovely color. Ascofinetia is an intergeneric hybrid between Ascocentrum and Neofinetia. The seed parent of this particular cross is Ascocentrum curvifolium, with the pollen parent Neofinetia falcata. Much of the shape is clearly Neofinetia, but […]
The princess… a very nice vandaceous hybrid known for its gentle temper and willingness to bloom in less than ideal conditions. Ascocenda Princess Mikasa is a cross between Ascocenda Royal Sapphire and Vanda coerulea. This is the fairly new white variety, known as ‘Tayanee White’, where the alba form of Vanda coerulea produce this lovely color. This particular […]
