30th March 2026 - Dendrobium gracilicaule

Continuing our theme of Australian dendrobiums we have Dendrobium gracilicaule that produces smaller flowers in profusion from old and new pseudobulbs.

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.

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. We find that plants enjoy good light and grow rapidly in the summer growing season.

Like many Dendrobiums the species is very attractive to slugs and snails so keep an eye out.

19th March 2026 - Brassia aurantiaca

One of the most eye catching orchids on our Wisley display was this wonderful hummingbird pollinated orchid.

Brassia aurantiaca has dramatic orange flowers that, unusually for the Oncidium family, form a tube for the pollinating bird by only opening a little. The result is really dramatic.

The species is native to cool cloud forests of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela and so enjoys growing cool and moist in our Cloud Forest Greenhouse (min 12C) where we water it about every other day. We have noticed in cloud forests that hummingbird pollionated flowers are usually in more open and brighter spots than other orchids - easy for the hummingbirds to spot and access - and so we grow this species high in the greenhouse where it recieves more light than plants lower down.

The resuly is both rapid growth and very heavy flowering. We have included a photograph of the same plant 12 months ago at the 2025 show (below) with a total of 7 flower spikes. This year there are 18 flower spikes!

Until recently the species was called Ada aurantiaca as most Brassia species look quite different since they attract spider eating wasps as their pollinator not hummingbirds. Molecular analysis has identified the close relationship. 

The flowers are relatively long lasting and always worth a closer look.

19th March 2026 - Brassia aurantiaca

One of the most eye catching orchids on our Wisley display was this wonderful hummingbird pollinated orchid.

Brassia aurantiaca has dramatic orange flowers that, unusually for the Oncidium family, form a tube for the pollinating bird by only opening a little. The result is really dramatic.

The species is native to cool cloud forests of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela and so enjoys growing cool and moist in our Cloud Forest Greenhouse (min 12C) where we water it about every other day. We have noticed in cloud forests that hummingbird pollionated flowers are usually in more open and brighter spots than other orchids - easy for the hummingbirds to spot and access - and so we grow this species high in the greenhouse where it recieves more light than plants lower down.

The resuly is both rapid growth and very heavy flowering. We have included a photograph of the same plant 12 months ago at the 2025 show (below) with a total of 7 flower spikes. This year there are 18 flower spikes!

Until recently the species was called Ada aurantiaca as most Brassia species look quite different since they attract spider eating wasps as their pollinator not hummingbirds. Molecular analysis has identified the close relationship. 

The flowers are relatively long lasting and always worth a closer look.

16th March 2026 - Cymbidium wenshanense

Over the next few days we will feature some of the orchids that featured on our Gold Medal winning display at the RHS Orchid Show, Wisley. We had 73 different flowering orchid species on our stand at it was a pleasure to share the wonderful diversity of orchids with the public.

One species we were particularly please to have on our display was Cymbidium wenshanense. This is the first flowering of seed we sowed back in 2019. 

Cymbidium wenshanense is a rare plant in the wild and was first described in 1990 from plants found in Yunnan (Southern China) but the original population was collected to extinction. It has since been found again in Southern China and northern Vietnam where it grows from 1000 to 1500m as an epiphyte in seasonally dry woodland. We have exploired similar habitat in neighbouring Laos where the mountains experience warm wet summers and rather cool dryer winters.

We grow Cymbidium wenshanense in our Himalayan greenhouse (minimum 7C) although it hapily grows warmer. It is a beautiful species even when not in flower with very graceful thin leaves only reaching about 60cm.  We find that seedlings grow quickly and make multiple growths.

The large flowers have the most wonderfully striped and spotted lip and are creamy white with a pink tinge especially around the lip. The pink colour intensifies if flowers are kept in bright light.  The thin leaves are unusually stiff for a small cymbidium which to us indicates a preference for bright light.

5th March 2026 - Phalaenopsis schilleriana

The stars of our IKEA orchid cabinets this week are our plants of Phalaenopsis schilleriana. Phalaenopsis schilleriana is native on Luzon and the surrounding islands, restricted to hot evergreen lowland forests where it grows on the bare branches of large trees. 

In cultivation we replicate these conditions by growing our plants indoors where its minimum temperature is 17C (though plants would enjoy it a little warmer than we do) in our IKEA display cabinets - if you want to know more check our our new page on growing orchids in IKEA Cabinets here.

In the wild plants have semi shade from the canopy of the host trees and we have plants on a north facing room with additional light from grow lights.

Flowers are long lasting on thin spikes that tend towards pendulous so this is an ideal plant for a high shelf. We donot stake our flower stems as we enjoy seeing the natural habit of our orchids.

We have two clones of this species, one with lovely pale papery flowers and another with deeper pink flowers. Phalaenopsis schilleriana also has the most wonderful mottled leaves and the species would be worth growing as a foliage plants even without its gorgeous flowers.

18th February 2026 - Masdevallia deformis

This very beautiful miniature Masdevallia has remarkable flowers which definately dont deserve their unflattering name. My guess is that the botanist who first named the species was looking at a flower in bud as the buds develop with the sepals sparate making the buds appear to be open flowers.

The flowers are very large compared to the compact plant, long lasting and pendulous.  The species is humming bird pollinated and flowers are held well clear of the leaves especially if grown mounted so that they can hang below the plant.

Masdevallia deformis is endemic to Ecuador and grows in cool wet forests from 1700-2800m and so grows well for us in our cloud forest greenhouse (min 12C) grown low down to avoid high summer temperatures.

18th February 2026 - Masdevallia setacea

We have had this wonderful masdevallia in our collection for  long while and every time it flowers it is still a surprise to see such large flowers on such a small plant.

Masdevallia setacea is native to cloud forests in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia from 1400 to 2400m and so enjoys a cool wet life and we find the species thrives mounted in our 'Cloud Forest' Greenhouse (min 12C) 

The flower colour of masdevallia setacea is variable around a theme od creamy yellow ground with  a pink flush. Our clone is on the pinker end of the range and is very striking. Flowers are produced sporadicly throughout the year and so we dont get a big display all at once but when the flowers are this dramatic you don't need many at a time.

As with all our mounted Masdevallias we water plants every day and twice a day in the summer if it warm or in the winter when the heating is working hard.

12th February 2026 - Phalaenopsis ambionensis

This beautiful and fragrant phalaenopsis species is named after the Indonesian island of Ambon (part of the Muluku Islands) where it grows in warm wet evergreen forest in shade. The species has also been found in Sulawesi.

Flower are large (6cm across) waxy and long lasting. Flower spikes continue to flower for several years and so plants become floriferous as they mature into specimens.

We grow Phalaenopsis ambionensis with our other Phalaenopsis species in Ikea cabinets with grow lights in our front room where we can guarentee having species in flower (photop below)

We use our Phalaenopsis species collection for a seed source and love growing these rewarding orchids from seed as well as enjoying their attractive seed pods.

4th February 2026 - Cattleya coccinea

We are now entering the main spring flowering season for many of our cool mountain orchids. Spring is the end of the dry winter season in many cool tropical habitats in Asia and the Americas and is an ideal time for orchids to flower in evolutionary terms - the flowers will not be destroyed by wet season rains and and developing pods following pollination will develop when their are plenty of wet season resources for the plant.

Cattleya coccinea flowers transport me back to the cloud forests of Brazil where we found Cattleya coccinea growing as an epiphyte in mossy cloud forests in the Organ Mountains at around 1200m altitude. Plants were mostly growing in exposed positions where they receive good light, frequent mists, good air movement and cool temperatures.  (photos 1,2,3 in our Cloud Forest Greenhouse - photos 4 and 5 in Brazil)

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.

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 but in a spot that is easy to water so that we can soak it most days. Grown well they quickly make lovely specimens.

 28th January 2026 - Masdevallia maxilimax

We have more than 70 species of Masdevallia in our collection but Masdevallia maxilimax is one of the most curious. The flowers may look just like a bright orange slug about to pounce on an unsuspecting orchid but are the perfect tube flower for humming bird pollination similar to many of the epiphytic Gesneriaceae (Gesneriads and similar genera) that share the Andean habitat of this Masdevallia)

Masdevallis maxilimax is endemic to Southern Ecuador where it is reported growing from 1800-2000m in cool wet forest.

We grow the species in our cloud forest greenhouse and keep plants near the floor of the greenhouse to reduce heat stress in the summer and when tghe heating is working hardest in the winter. The leaves of Masdevallia maxilimax are rather delicate and soon become desicated if plants are not well watered.

 21st January 2026 - Oncidium cristatum

The winter storms are following one after another here on the South Coast with enormous waves crashing in beyond the greenhouses. (see this morning's photo). Inside the greenhouses life is much more serene and the Himalayas (our greenhouse for seasonally cool orchids) is looking wonderful as it always does through the spring months (January counts as spring if you have a cool greenhouse)

A real star at the moment is Oncidium cristatum with long arching sprays of gorgeous flowers. Our largest plant (shown here) has seven spikes each with 12 to 20 flowers.

Odontoglossum cristatum is native to Ecuador and Colombia where it is found in cloud forest from 1500-2600 m altitude and although this is a cloudforest habitat we find that plants do better in our Himalays Greenhouse grown a cooler and brighter perhaps suggesting that plants grow more exposed than the Masdevallias and Pleurothallis species that love our cloud forests greenhouse.  

We have always known this plant as Odontoglossum cristatum but odontoglossum species have been included in Oncidium on the basis of molecular studies and we are relaxed about the name change.

Our plants go back to a seedling purchased in 1996 and since then we have grown the species equally well in pots, mounted and in baskets. Our clone is particularly strong growing and produces 80cm long branched flower spikes with very long lasting flowers. Plants have won many prizes over the years including Grand Champion of Europe at the European Orchid Show in Paris in 2017.

We have divided plants many times over the years and so plants of this wonderful species and wonderful clone are regularly available on our ETSY shop.