Orchid blog
This blog is dormant at the moment, but it is still getting a lot of visitis so I will keep it up for you guys as a resource. My future adventures will be published on my new blog, hope to see you there!
My focus… if pressed to name favorites it would have to be orchids of the Pleurothallid Alliance. But a Paphiopedilum was the first orchid I ever fell in love with so slipper orchids will always be close to my heart, and while we are on the subject I might as well disclose a love affair with Neofinetia as well.
Dracula sodiroi subsp. erythrocodon
So, the Dracula indulgence continues. Dracula sodiroi is an intermediate to cool growing terrestrial or epiphytic species named after Father Sadira who first discovered it in 1900. It grows in the northwestern regions of the Pichincha provice in Ecuador at altitudes between 1800 to 2300 meters. The bell shaped flowers form on erect racemes and the pendant growing style further enhances the bell connection. Apparently the characteristic to produce more than one flower at the same time on this erect raceme [...]
Dracula iricolor
I bought this lovely species from Ecuagenera under the name Dracula trichroma, which apparently is a synonym to Dracula iricolor. Regardless of the name, I love the soft color scheme of the flower in contrast to the traditional provocative Dracula shape. It blooms on an erect inflorescence, which is less common in this genus, with single flowers produced in succession. It is an eiphyte from the cloud forests of Colombia to Northwestern Ecuador where it has been found at a rather [...]
Masdevallia rex
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 in a [...]
Paphiopedilum appletonianum
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 [...]
Trisetella success
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 [...]
New blog design for 2013
Happy new year! 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 [...]