Blog: Orchids in Bloom
Jan 21 2013
ecuador
masdevallia
masdevallia hirtzii
orchid
pleurothallid
Masdevallia hirtzii with its a colorful and abundant flowers always provides a a bit of color in the middle of the winter. It always produces its flowers for me from November to January and though the individual flowers only last a few weeks, it continues to produce them over that three month period, but then is done blooming for the year, too. It belongs to the Saltatrices group and the characteristics of this group are evident in the photos, tubular flowers and a "belly' at the base of the flower tube. Read more
Jan 16 2013
mediocalcar
mediocalcar versteegii
new guinea
orchid
The small genus, Mediocalcar, includes around 20 species, all of which are from New Guinea and most of which are high-altitude, cloud-forest plants. The flowers comes in unusual and bright color combinations, as is the case here. This species has individual growths of 5-9 cm, an elongated pseudobulb with a single leaf, both equal in length. The growths grow on top of each other, however, and form a rambling tangled mass. The plant shown here is 20 cm tall, but tied up with a piece of monofilament to keep it from going all over. The flowers are 1 cm and ... Read more
Jan 12 2013
ecuador
masdevallia
orchid
pleurothallid
reichantha
Reichantha or Masdevallia striatella is an attractive and prolific species from Ecuador. It is distinguished by its bold stripes which are rather rather rare among Masdevallias. The plant is 8 cm tall and the flowers are 1.5 cm long. It blooms early in the winter and I grow it, like most of my Masdevallias, in a plastic net pot in live sphagnum moss. Read more
Jan 08 2013
ceratocentron
ceratocentron fesselii
hybrid
orchid
tuberolabium
Tubecentron Niu Girl is a hybrid of Tuberolabium kotoense and Ceratocentron fesselii, the latter a very attractive but somewhat hard-to-grow miniature. I have two plants of this hybrid and they are both about the same size but one has flowers that are more red than the other, as seen below. The plant is small, like a tiny, few-leaved Vanda, 10 cm across, with a cluster of flowers each around 1.5 cm in size. Both plants bloomed for me for the first time this past autumn, one with 8 flowers, the other with 4. They are sparkling in texture and have ... Read more
Jan 03 2013
dendrobium
dendrobium cuthbertsonii
dendrobium gina perlite
dendrobium prasinum
hybrid
Dendrobium Gina Perlite is a hybrid of two small Oxyglossum Dendrobiums from New Guinea, Dendrobium prasinum and Dendrobium cuthbertsonii. This particular clone has the name "Crystal White" and has very large flowers for the plant, 4 cm long) but flowers that are by no means crystal white. They are a very pale yellow (the photos reproduce the color accurately). The plant is larger than Dendrobium cuthbertsonii, 4-5 cm in height. It is growing at present in a small clay pot in sphagnum moss. Read more
Dec 20 2012
dendrobium
dendrobium pentapterum
new guinea
orchid
oxyglossum
Dendrobium pentapterum is another Oxyglossum Dendrobium from New Guinea. The plant is 10 cm tall with 3 cm pale green flowers that have an bright orange tip to the lip. Its most remarkable feature however, is its floriferousness. It has as many as four flowers at a time from each growth that last up to six months and it continues to bloom from the older growths over many years. My plant at present is in an 8 cm clay pot and has over 80 flowers on, so crowded that it is hard to see where one ends and another begins. ... Read more
Dec 17 2012
aos
chm
ecuador
pleurothallid
stelis
This plant and the photos I've taken of have gotten some attention recently. A close-up of the flowers was used on the cover of the December 2012 issue of Orchids, the magazine of the American Orchid Society. That is a real honor which I've had only once before and that exactly a year ago (December 2011). Both the original photo and the cover are shown below.Last Saturday was the monthly judging of the Pacific Northwest Center, held at the Center for Urban Horticulture at the University of Washington. If I had known how bad traffic was going to be I ... Read more
Dec 14 2012
bangladesh
india
nepal
paphiopedilum
paphiopedilum venustum
My Paphiopedilum venustum is in bloom once again with two flowers. I like the species, but the flowers on my plant are quite small and the petals reflex back behind the flowers which was especially disappointing when it first bloomed. The flowers are still beautiful, however, and I decided do a series of macro photos to show some of the details of this remarkable species, a good example of the odd colors and forms in the genus Paphiopedilum. The species, by the way is from the Himalayas. flower front flower close-up front flower back petal dorsal sepal staminode and top of ... Read more
Dec 10 2012
aos
bucella molossoides
cbr
chm
dendrobium limpidum
This post is long overdue. The show featured in the post was held last spring and I have only now gotten around to sorting the pictures and posting some of them here for your perusal.The Northwest Orchid Society draws from the Seattle area and is larger than our own Mount Baker Orchid Society. Its show is held every spring at a large nursery in Shoreline, Washington.I did not have a display in the show or plants in the Mount Baker Society display, but did attend and brought several plants for American Orchid Society judging, three of which were awarded.Shows are ... Read more
Dec 06 2012
hybrid
lc culminant
orchid
slc
slc circle of life
I do not grow a lot of Cattleya hybrids, in fact, I do not grow a lot of hybrids of any kind, but several years ago in a fit of madness, I brought a whole raft of seedlings from one of the best hybridizers around and many of them have now bloomed, though as they bloom I sell them off. Don't know if I'll sell this one, though.Sophrolaeliocattleya or Slc. (Cattleya if you prefer the new names) Circle of Life is a hybrid of Laeliocattleya (Lc.) Culminant and Sophronitis coccinea, a miniature fiery red species. The plant is 13-15 cm ... Read more
Dec 01 2012
ecuador
platystele
platystele ovatilabia
pleurothallid
This orchid blooms faithfully for me every autumn and has more and more flowers every year. Though the individual flowers do not last a long time each flower spike produces a succession of four to six flowers and so the plant is in bloom over a long period of time, a month or more. The individual flowers are only 3 mm in size and the plant around 4 cm, but as some of the photos indicate, it is able to put on quite a show. It is from Mexico and Central America. Read more
Nov 24 2012
dendrobium
dendrobium subuliferum
new guinea
oxyglossum
This miniature species is from Papua New Guinea and belongs to the Oxyglossum group of Dendrobiums, a group of mostly high altitude species with very long-lasting flowers. This is first-bloom seedling and has only one flower at present, but if happy can be very floriferous. My plant, at present is 5 cm, but should grow a bit larger. The flowers are 1 cm in size and have a sparkling texture which sets off the beautiful purple tip to the column. Read more
Nov 19 2012
ecuador
masdevallia
masdevallia aurea
pleurothallid
saltatrices
Here is a small Masdevallia species from Ecuador and another from Saltatrices group. The plant is 5 cm tall and the flowers 3 cm including the tails. It blooms during the winter and is faintly scented. This particular plant was awarded by the American Orchid Society. It is very similar in color and appearance to Masdevallia strobelii (below), but the flower are much smaller than the flowers of that species. Read more
Nov 14 2012
dendrobium
dendrobium cuthbertsonii
new guinea
orchid
oxyglossum
My favorite orchid, but not always that easy to grow. I've learned over the years (thanks, Andy) that they like very high light and are much more temperature tolerant when given high light, very little fertilizer (some claim that fertilizer kills them, but my do well with small amount in nearly every watering), and lots of water and humidity.The species comes from the highlands of Papua New Guinea, though it is also found in some lowland areas, and apparently there is a company in Taiwan that is breeding these warmer growing plants and producing plants that are very tolerant of ... Read more
Nov 09 2012
ecuador
masdevallia
masdevallia strobelii
pleurothallid
saltatrices
One of the smaller Masdevallias but one that can be covered with flowers when it blooms well as mine did this year, Masevallia strobelii belongs to the Saltatrices section of the genus Masdevallia and has the typical features of the species in that section, a slight bulge or "belly" at the bottom of the flower, the flower tube lined with glandular hairs and bright color. This species is also highly fragrant and will perfume a whole room with its blooms. Fragrant, colorful, and prolific bloomer, what more could one ask? Read more
Nov 05 2012
dendrobium
dendrobium cuthbertsonii
dendrobium illusion
dendrobium lawesii
orchid
Dendrobium Illusion is a hybrid of two New Guinean species, Dendrobium cuthbertsonii, a tiny species in the Oxyglossum section, and Dendrobium lawesii, a much larger plant with long cane-like stems in the Pedilonum section. It has some of the better features of both its parents. It is much smaller in size than Dend. lawesii and has the large, long-lasting flowers of Dend. cuthbertsonii and is certainly easier to grow and bloom than that species.I have three plants and this is one has the largest flowers, which are also more orange than the other two clones, but it does not seem ... Read more
Nov 01 2012
ecuador
pleurothallid
trisetella
trisetella hoeijeri
Trisetella hoeijeri is a tiny species that was once classified as Masdevallia. Most of the Trisetellas have small reddish-brown flowers with short tails, but this one, obviously, is different. The plant is a few centimeters tall and the flowers are 4 cm from tip to tip. My plant blooms with a lot of flowers in early winter, but produces an odd flower off and on throughout the year. It is from Ecuador and is grown mounted and cool. Read more
Oct 24 2012
dendrobium
dendrobium dichaeoides
new guinea
orchid
Dendrobium dichaeoides is another species from the highlands of Papua New Guinea, but is very different from the Dendrobium agathodaemonis, the species, also from Papua, that I posted recently. This species has a pendant, creeping growth habit with beautiful opposite leaves on the stems. Its species name, dichaeoides, refers to the similarity of its foliage to another orchid genus, Dichaea. The growth are 10-15 cm long and the flowers, which come in these bright clusters are 1 cm in size. Read more
Oct 19 2012
japan
neofinetia
neofinetia falcata
orchid
vandaceous
This is actually my son's plant, though I have a number of different Neofinetias as well. He does grow it in my plant case and so I suppose that justifies its inclusion here. He purchased the plant at one of our society auctions and it has flourished. It is just finishing blooming with two flower spikes, ten flowers and is sending up several new fans of leaves as well.For those who do not know, Neofinetia falcata is native to Japan and has been extensively inter-breed by them producing all sorts of interesting variations of leaves, roots and flowers, including flowers ... Read more
Oct 15 2012
dendrobium
dendrobium agathodaemonis
new guinea
orchid
oxyglossum
Dendrobium agathodaemonis is a tiny plant, only a couple of centimeters tall with a mat thin little stems, each with a few leaves, but it produces flowers that dwarf the plant, about three centimeters long and in this case a cherry red color. I have another clone that is pink with a white lip, but these flowers are completely red. The plant is blooming from seed for the first time.Dendrobium agathodaemonis is closely related to Dendrobium cutherbertsonii and some consider it a variety of that species. There are obvious differences, though perhaps not enough to make it a species in ... Read more