March 24th 2025 - Dendrobium gracilicaule

Continuing our Australian Orchid week we have Dendrobium gracilicaule. 

Dendrobium gracilicaule produces slender pseudobulbs up to 70cm long and massed multiple spikes of slightly nodding flowers. The flowers are unusual for being plain yellow inside but beautifully spotted with deep red on the outside and as you can see, plants are really floriferous.

Dendrobium gracilicaule is a reported as native to Queensland and New South Wales Australia as well as New Caledonia where it grows as an epiphtye on trees or lithophyte on rocks from sea level up to 600m altitude.

Like many of the Australian dendrobiums this species flowers from new and older pseudobulbs simultaneously and so when mature produces a fantastic show of flowers.

We grow our plant in our himalayas greenhouise min 7C, although its native range indicates it would be happier a little warmer. We grow plants in open bark and water well in the summer but keep them much dryer in the winter.

March 18th 2025 - Coelogyne cristata

A real favourite amongst our orchids is this iconic Coelogyne from the Himalayas.

The flowering of Coelogyne cristata means springtime in the greenhouse and takes us back to our travels in the Sikkim Himalaya.

The plant shown here is labelled Coelogyne cristata 'limoniana' for the lemon yellow blotch on the lip rather than the usual colour which is more like egg yolk yellow. (photo below) Observing wild populations it soon became clear that flowers are rather variable in the colour of the lip right from orange yellow through a range of paler yellows to pure white, so giving varietal names is a bit spurious.

In Sikkim we found plants growing at around 2000m either on mossy trees or at the top of cliffs in drippy mossy areas (photo 2). These microhabitats give a clue to the secret of growing and flowering plants well in cultivation - lots and lots of water.

We water plants every day during the summer growing season and keep them damp through the winter (watering about once or twice a week) so that the bulbs do not shrivel. Once the flowers develop we work very hard to keep water off the flowers and they can stay priting for up to a month.

We grow our plants cool in our Himalayas greenhouse with a winter minimum of 7C but have also succeeded with them much warmer on a windowsil indoors. When growing plants warmer the heavy watering is even more important for flower production as desiccated plants rarely flower.

March 11th 2025 - Isabellia violacea

We have another of our gorgeous miniature orchids today.

Sophronitella violacea is native to Organ Mountains in Brazil where it grows in forests around 1000m and its flowers are 2.5cm across which is really rather large for this tiny species with 2cm pseudobulbs each topped by a single leaf. The species is pollinated by hummingbirds.

For those who have not read about our expeditions to the Brazil – The Organ Mountains (Serra dos Órgãos) are a precipitous ancient granite mountain range near the coast in the state of Rio de Janeiro and the spot we visited during our expeditions to Brazil in 2000 and 2005.

In cultivation we find it likes to grow cool and bright and wet but enjoy really free draining conditions. We grow all our plants mounted and hanging them high in our Cloud Forest greenhouse where we spray plants daily, except in warm summer weather when we spray them twice a day.

Flowers only last a week which is a shame, but are so utterly charming that we would never be without this species in our collection.

March 5th 2025 - Coelogyne saccolabium (Dendrochilum saccolabium)

We are fortunate to have many members of the Coelogyne genus in our collection including those that used to be called Dendrochilum's. The genus Dendrochilum has recently been included in Coelogyne as a result of molecular studies (DNA)

Coelogyne saccolaboium is typical of plants that were called dendrochilums with its dense flower spikes with about 50 charming little red flowers.

If you look closely you can see that each flower peeps out from under a pink bract and so it is work taking time to look directly into the flowers, and appreciate their really bright red colour.

The species is native to the Philippines where it is reported as growing in cool evergreen forests above 1200m altitude. This habitat closely mirrors conditions in our cloud forest greenhouse where we maintain a minimum temperature of 12C, water well throughout the year and shade heavily in the summer.

As well as amazing flowers, the species has attractive stiff, flattened, narrow leaves and looks lovely even when not in flower.

February 27th 2025 - Cattleya coccinea

We have seen this wonderful miniature orchid growing in the Organ Mountains of Brazil where we found it on exposed windy ridges above 1000m altitude (see photo of plant in Brazil below)

During our visits temperatures were around 12C at night and 22C during the day. It was very noticeable that the forest was dripping every morning from the mists and dew.

New growths have a single leaf that becomes purple in bright sunlight and the flowers are produced from immature growths. The flowers are pollinated by humming birds and are variable in size, shape and colour. Some flowers are rounder, some more angular, and some have considerable yellow on the lip and petals. Our seed raised plant here is a classic and wonderful scarlet red.

This does not seem to be the easiest plant to grow but the challenge is to replicate the plants natural conditions – Cool, wet, bright and windy. It is definitely worth the trouble and the plant flowering today in the greenhouse is growing mounted high in our Cloud Forest Greenhouse (second photo) but in a spot that is easy to water so that we can soak it most days. Grown well they quickly make lovely specimens. 

We have some lovely seedlings developing in the lab using this plant as the pod parent and these should be available from spring 2026.

February 12th 2025 - Stelis aprica

We have another Brazilian orchid today.

Stelis aprica is native to the coastal cloud forests of Brazil that we have explored on our expeditions to the Mata Atlantica. It grows in wet forest but has relatively stiff leaves compared to many stelis to cope with the more seasonal climate experiences in the Barazilian cloud forests than many of those in from Peru up the Andes to Costa Rica in Central America.

The flowers are tiny as with many stelis species but are produced in abundance from old and new leaves giving a lovely display.

February 10th 2025 - Bulbophyllum ambrosia

Bulbophyllum species are very diverse in growth habit, flower appearence and cultural needs.  One of most trouble free and accommodating species is the small growing Bulbophyllum ambrosia. This species is notable for its powerful sweet scent and its charming little flowers.

Bilbophyllum ambrosia is species that produces single flowers, scented of honey, on very thin stems so that they appear to float around the plant. The species is native to Southern China and Vietnam where it grows in forest ranging from warm lowland semi-deciduous forest at 300m altitude to cooler evergreen forests at 1300m.  We have visited the habitat in Laos where there is a distinct winter cool, dry season and in cultivation we find that plants do all their growing between April and November (warm wet season) and flower in early spring (the dry season). 

Thanks to the large range of the species, we find that plants do well either grown warm in our indoor orchid cases (min 17C), or in our Cloud Forest Greenhouse (min 12C).

February 6th 2025 - Renanthera monachica

Today we have one of our warm growing species. 

Renanthera monachica is a dwarf member of the genus but still a robust and dramatic orchid.

The genus Renanthera is closely related to Vanda but plants are easily distinguished by their bright flowers and different lip shape evolved for their bird pollinators.

Many Renathera species are giant plants growing to several metres tall with an upright habit that allows them to scramble up through trees and reach the bright light that they enjoy. Renathera monachica is on a much smaller scale but as you can see our plant is already 60cm tall with a flower spike adding another 60cm, so not a miniature orchid.

In a healthy plant the flower spike branches and gives a wonderful display of exuberantly spotted orange flowers. The flowers are long lasting.

As I said, Renanthera monachica is warm growing and endemic to lowland forest on the island of Luzon, in the Philippines. 

We have explored similar forests in Sarawak where the temperature is always in the 20s or 30s and although their is rainfall all year, the forest dries out soon after rains.

We have grown the species successfully in baskets but really love the way the plant grows and displays itself on a large cork mount.

The plant hangs in our growing cases in our living room (min 17C) with grow lights to supplement the light from a north facing window. You will notice from the photos that we have modified the IKEA dosplay cases by removing the glass shelves and adding weld mesh that allows us to hang mounted plants.

We water our plants most days with a spray of rain water and feed to 400-500 micro-seimens conductivity.

February 3rd 2025 - Campanulorchis thao

This is a new addition to our collection and a species previously known as Eria thao. The genus Eria has been split into genera including Campanulorchis and Strongyleria, but whatever the name, this is a group of really interesting Asian orchids characterised by hairy buds, and frequently hairy stems and leaves too.

We have been lucky enough to encounter a large number of Eria (Campanulorchis) species in our travels to the Himalayas and South East Asia where we found them growing in both warm and cool seasonally dry forest.

Campanulorchis thao is reported from Southern China and Vietnam and is likely to be also native to the forests we have explored in Laos which experience warm wet summers and cooler dryer winters. 

The species has attractive round bulbs to cope with the dry season and the short thick leaves suggest it grows in open woodland with good light.

I have included a photograph of the vegetatively similar Eria pannea (Strongyleria pannea) growing in open woodland in Souther Laos.

Campanulorchis thao is reported over a wide range of altitudes from hot lowland forests to cool mountain forests and so we are experimenting with plants in both our Cloud Forest greenhouse (min 12C) and our warm Lowland Forest indoor cabinets (min 17C) and we will let you know which habitat it prefers.

January 31st 2025 - Rhynchostele rossii

This miniature member of the oncidium family is native to Mexico where it is restricted to high mountain cloud forests between 2000m and 3000m altitude. This habitat is always damp and cool - very cool. 

This makes the species a little challenging in cultivation and we have found that mounted it tends to dry out too much, in pots it sulks, and baskets are perfect. We water heavily throughout the year but plants enjoy excellent drainage. 

The plant seems to thrive in good light and so we grow it fairly high up in the greenhouse which makes keeping it cool enough in summer a challenge but as long as it is kept wet it seems fine. 

We have two clones both shown here. One is larger and pinker while the other is more floriferous but smaller with a very white lip.

We have a seed pod from last year's flowering when we pollinated between our two clones. So fingers crossed for some healthy seedlings in the future.

All our plants are enjoying todays sunshine that is starting to carry some spring warmth.

You can see out Rynchostele rossii plants high up the mesh on the right hand side.

January 24th 2025 - Laelia anceps

'Orchid of the week' is turning into more like 'Orchid of the day' which is a result of spring arriving in the greenhouse and so many species starting to flower. 

Today's orchid is one of our most reliable cool growing orchids and its pink flowers are filling the roof of our Himalayas greenhouse.

Laelia anceps produces large flowers and on strong spikes 80cm long with three to six flowers on a spike. The species is native to Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras where it grows in pine oak forest and coffee plantations from 500-1500m altitude. The wide distribution of the species and its relatively harsh habitat help to explain the ease with which the plant grows in cultivation and its tolerance of both high temperatures in the summer and cool temperatures in the winter. The wide distribution also gives rise to a wide variety of forms some of which are shown here.

We grow the species cool in our Himalayan greenhouse min 7C where it is very happy amongst Cymbidiums and Coelogynes from Asia. We grow plants in large baskets by preference which allows room for their expensive roots and prevents them being to damp in the winter. Plants also do fine in pots.

We water plants well when in growth during the summer and give them lots of light in the roof of the greenhouse.

Lealia anceps plants can be very long lived and several of our clones are historic including the smaller pink flowered clones which were given to us by the wonderful orchid grower and writer Joyce Stewart in the 1990s

January 23rd 2025 - Coelogyne tenella (Dendrochilum tenellum) 

This elegant little orchid comes from the mountain forest of the Philippines.

It grows at elevations of 1000m to 2300m and so we grow this species at a minimum of 12C in our cloud forest green house. It is watered all year round, more in the summer.

The species has very fine terete leaves and lots of lovely cream flowers on arching spikes that look a little grass like.

We bought this plant as a Dendrochilum tenellum but all Dendrochilums have been moved to the genus Coelogyne.

We have many ex Dendrochilum species in our collection some of which we grow hot and some cool, depending on their natural habitat and altitude.

This appears to be one of the easiest Dendrochilums (Coelogynes) to grow and it just sits in with our Masdevallias and does it thing.

January 20th 2025 - Barkeria skinneri

The roof of our Cloud Forest Greenhouse is full of pink flowers thanks to our lovely stock plant of Barkeria skinneri.

This wonderful species is native to Mexico where it grows in open deciduous oak forrest. New growths appear in the spring and make canes about 40cm long that develop terminal flower spikes that make the whole plant around a metre tall.

We find that barkerias grow best when mounted as roots quickly rot when we pot them. The abundant roots seem to thrive when out in fresh air where they dry quickly after watering. We spray plants heavily during the summer when in active growth but reduce watering in the winter when the plants become semi-deciduous.

The species is reportedly found from altitudes of 900m to 1900m which indicates a tolerance of a wide range of temperatures and althopugh it would probably appreciate a higher winter minimum that the 12C we provide in our cloud forest glasshouse it flourishes grown really high where it experiences a dryer, brighter and warmer conditions than our cooler growing species below.  We find that the key to growing a mixed orchid collection is to make the most of environmental niches within you growing space just as plants find environmental niches in their native habitats.

January 15th 2025 - Masdevallia dynastes

I have just been out to the night time greenhouse to find an orchid for orchid of the week and spotted the diminutive and enchanting Masdevallia dynastes.

The flowers of this wonderful, small growing, Masdevallia always make me think of the spotted heads of nestlings, poking up from the nest of leaves, with gaping mouths asking to be fed – what do you think?

Masdevallia dynastes is a very floriferous species,  with single flowers on wiry stems, endemic to cloud forests in Ecuador from 1400-2800m altitude. The flowers look fragile but are long lasting and this plant will still be in flower in March.

As you can see this plant is in a basket but we also succeed with the species mounted on cork or in small pots. The species seems to enjoy plenty of water but good light and so we grow plants half way up the our Cloud Forests Greenhouse  - the top of the greenhouse is warmer, brighter and dryer, floor level is cooler, damper and shaded. Halfway up is perfect for Masdevallias like this one. 

We are building our stock of Masdevallia dynastes at the nursery and hope to have plants for sale later in the year.

January 9th 2025 - Gastrochilus sororius

Gastrochilus is a fascinating genus related to Vanda and Phalaenopsis that produces masses of attractive flowers in clusters with unusual bowled lips.

Gastrochilus sororius (first picture) is a warm growing species from Malaysia and Indonesia including Borneo an grows in the warm lowland forest we have explored in Sarawak. We grow our plant indoors with a minimum of 17C and it rewards us with thick leaves and roots, and masses of flowers twice a year.

We have also seen Gastrochilus species growing in cool forests in the Himalayas including the small plant shown below at 2500m in Arunachal Pradesh in warm temperate forest surrounded by familiar garden plants such as Daphne bholua.

We have seed sown of Gastrochilus sororius in ouir lab so will hopefully have seedlings soon.