Gongora grossa

Gongoras are very rewarding orchids to grow with unusual attractive flowers and exotic scents. Today we have the first flowering of seedlings of Gongora grossa (first three photos) which has a really spicy scent that reminds me of 1970's aftershave and divides people into those who love it and those who really don't.

The plant that I pollinated to produce the seed was then called Gonogora nigropunctata (photo 4) in reference to the dark spotting and it has taken six years for the first seedling to flower. As can be seen from the parent plant our little seedling will grow longer flower spikes as it matures.

Gongora nigropunctata is now considered synonymous with Gongors grossa and Gongora grossa is found in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru and so is quite a variable species.

The natural habitat is warm, wet, evergreen, lowland forest in shade. To replicate this environment we grow plants indoors in our IKEA cases with a minimum temperature of 17C a little away from the growlights. Although the flower spikes become dramatically pendulous they start by growing upwards and so plants can be grown in pots as well as baskets.

As you can see from our seedling, the species flowers when quite small but will make a lovely specimen over time - or if you have limited space plants can be split and kept small.