28th August 2025 - Phalaenopsis corningiana

Phalaenopsis corningiana is native to Borneo and in common with most of the Bornean species produces waxy fragrant flowers sequentially on short flower stems. The flower colour is variable and we are delighted that this first flowering seedling  has particularly dark petals to complement the lovelybright pink lip.

We have not seen this species in the wild but it is reported to grow from 450-610m altitude in warm forests both on cliffs and the trunks of large trees.

You can see from the photographs that the species is small for a phalaenopsis although the leaves will get larger as it matures. 

We grow Phalaenopsis corningiana with the rest of our Phalaenopsis species collection in IKEA display cabinets in our living room with a minimum of 17C (although plants would happily grow warmer) and supplementary lighting.  The plant here is in a 6cm pot of course bark and we water every two days with rainwater and weak feed. The species grows very close to the equator and so grows throughout the year. 

 21st August 2025 - Specklinia costaricensis

Continuing with our Specklinia week we also have Specklinia costaricensis in flower. Specklinia costaricensis has flowers similar to Specklinia gracillima but plants are smaller and much slower growing. Plants form a ball over time rather than the more spreading nature of Specklinia gracillima.

This charming miniature is native to the cloud forests of Costa Rica (as the name suggests) and Panama at altitudes up to 1800m. We find it thrives both on our bathroom windowsill or in a shaded spot in our cloud forest greenhoiuse (min 12C). The small windowsill plant has three spikes of the characteristic pure yellow flowers while plants can make fantastic specimens over time as shown by the greenhouse plant. 

as you can see in photo 3. our windowsill miniatures are held in a carry tray which we find stops the plants falling over as well as providing perfect growing conditions with lots of little plants enjoying each others company (note Masdevallia paivaeana flowering next to Specklinia costaricensis) The window faces west and is shaded by a tree so is plants have light but not full sun. We water plants every couple of days with a pump sprayer.

In the greenhouse we grow the species mounted, in baskets and potted where it produces its sprays of small bright yellow flowers sporadically throughout the year.

Patience is needed as the plant is slow to make a specimen but the wait is wel worth it. We have plants of this lovely species available on our ETSY shop too.

We used to grow this species under the name Pleurothallis costaricensis.

 19th August 2025 - Specklinia subpicta

Specklinia subpicta is one of our true miniature pleurothallis species with leaves just 4cm long, and it produces relatively large flowers on relaxed spikes.

The species is native to Brazillian cloud forest around 1000m, a habitat we have explored in our two expeditions to the coastal rainforest of Rio State. The climate here is moist even  in the dryer winter season and minimum temperatures are around 10-12C.

We find that Specklinia subpicta is a strong growing little plant if kept damp and in some shade. The long lasting flowers  have unusually long pinkish petals. Plants produce spikes over a long period. We grow this species in baskets and pots in our 'Cloud Forest Glasshouse' minimum 12C and water well all year (every day or every two days)

We used to grow this species as Pleurothallis sub-picta but have renamed it inline with molecular studies.

 11th August 2025 - Aerangis luteo-alba var. rhodosticta

The stars of our warm orchid collection this week are our two clones of Aerangis luteo-alba var. rhodosticta.

This species is native to tropical Africa from Cameroon across to Kenya and Tanzania. It is pollinated by moths and so is fragrant at night as well creamy white to show up in the forest at night. The red column helps the moth to locate the entrance to the spur full of nectar (look just below the red column).

As you can see from the photos we have two very distinct clones - a small growing small round flowered clone (mounted on cork) and a larger growing, larger pointed flowered clone in a pot.

This is a lovely orchid to grow – it enjoys a warm and shady environment and we grow the species in our indoor Ikea cabinets with a minimum of 17C. It comes from riverine forest (the humid forest found along rivers) from 1200m altitude to 2200m altitude and so it would also grow happily a little cooler. Like Aerangis and related species we have seen in coastal forest near Durban (South Africa) this species is found on twigs and small branches with roots running long distances to collect available moisture.

The species is quick to flower from seed and we will be producing seed from sib crossed between these two lovely clones.

 6th August 2025 - Masdevallia nivea

We have another Masdevallia flowering in the greenhouse this week with wonderfully large flowers and a compact habit - Masdevallia nivea.

Masdevallia nivea is native to Colombia and we will soon be anouncing our new partnership with Colombian conservation. This wonderful country has the richest orchid diversity of any country in the world and this beautiful masdevallia is found in North East Colombia in cool wet forest at around 2800m and we replicate these conditions by grwoing plants in our cloud forest greenhouse (min 12C) low down where it receives shade and protection from high temperatures.

As you can see this plant is mounted which is great for showing off the large flowers on this small plant (leaves are only 7cm long) but plants also do well in pots.

The name Nivea means 'the white Masdevallia' which is a bit misleading as the flower has a creamy yellow dorsal sepal, yellow tails and a cream blush to the base of the other petals - stunning. If you want a white masdevallia the M. tovorensis would be an obvious choice! (see below) 

 4th August 2025 - Masdevallia rufolutea

Our first orchid of August is this beautiful masdevallia that is currently tempting us to inhale its rather unpleasant fragrance.

Masdevallia rufolutea is endemic to Peru where it grows in cool wet forest at around 2700m altitude. The species makes quite a large plant with fleshy leaves and large flowers produced on short stems. The plant attracts carion fly pollinators with its unpleasent smell but you have to get close to smell it (unless you are a fly) so this is not a problem. We find that the plant is sensitive to high temperatures and can suffer blotches on the leaves from heat stress but benefits from good light that induces heavy flowering as we have on our plant today. In deep shade less flowers are produced and the leaves grow a darker green. The trick for avaoiding heat stress are to make sure that plants are well watered at the roods (we water the basket every day) and that there is plenty of air and not too much humidity so that plants can transpire effectively to keep cool.

Until recently we grew the species as Masdevallia picea but have changed its label in line with Plants of The World Online (https://powo.science.kew.org/)

Regulars will know that we keep our Cloud forest greenhouse at a minimum of 12C and shade in the summer with external shade net.

We have been asked how we are managing for rain water after our very dry spring and summer so far. Once we started to run low on stored rain water we have switched to a mix of 50% rain water and 50% tap water, it it stays dry we will be on 100% tap water. The thing to remember is that tap water is not toxic to orchids but if hard like Portland water we cannot add much plant food before it does become too high in dissolved salts for sensitive orchid roots. We will also get some limescale marks on our leaves but this will wash off once we are able to again use 100% rain water.

 22nd July 2025 - Prosthechea radiata

This wonderful orchid takes me back to the Mayan ruins of Guatemala and the photograph below shows a plant growing high in a tree amongst the Mayan pyramids of Tikal.

Prothechea radiata is found right through Central America and is easily recognised by the purple radial stripes on the lip that give the plant its name. The radial stripes along with the wonderful fragrance are to guide the pollinating butterflies to the nectar.

In Guatemala we found plants growing in semi shade in seasonally dry lowland forest but we find that plants are happy grown cool or warm and our plants love the roof of our cloud forests greenhouse where they are watered throughout the year especially in the late summer when in full growth.

April 7th 2025 - Early Spider Orchid - Ophrys sphagodes

The second week in April is the always our time to make a pilgrimage to the Purbeck Coast in Dorset to find the Early spider Orchid

This wonderful species (that last week I likened to Gastrochilus retrocallus) is one of the UK's less common orchids but in its Dorset stronghold can easily bee found amongst the short turf near the coast path.

The plants are not large but when you get your eye in they are not hard to spot. For anyone wanting to find them for the first time the a walk along the coat path from Dancing Ledge (easily reached from the National Trust car park in Langton Matravers) towards Durlaston Head will guarantee lots of plants and they should be flowering for the next week or two.