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December 2020

Show and Tell

 

From Scott McGregor:

 

Angraecum danguyanum

A tiny Angraecum from Madagascar that opens long-lasting 1/4" flowers every inch or two along the thin canes.  It supposedly grows on the warm side, but seems happy outside for me over the last three years.

Brassavola perrinii

My favorite Brassavola—blooms on and off late summer through December with white flowers and a yellow column.

Cattleya (Sophronitis) brevipedunculata

A reliable outdoor autumn bloomer with long-lasting flowers and a compact growth habit.  It prefers the cooler nights we’re now having.  I find it grows best mounted.

Dendrobium victoria-reginae

Two pics of the same flowers, same camera (iPhone 11), no color editing but different backgrounds.  This species is often described as “blue”, but I only rate it as “violet with some blue tones”.  Note how differently the camera pics up the blue tones with a warm background versus a neutral black background.  Most consumer cameras have software that “warms up” pictures to make faces look better but tends to over-emphasize or over-saturate red tones in orchid pics.  This species from high in the mountains in the Philippines likes cool nights and can be hard to keep happy in our summers.

Laelia anceps 'Royal Flush x 'Deja Vu'

My favorite line-bred anceps with big flowers and highly saturated colors.

Pteroceras semiteretifolium

A cute mini from Vietnam with long-lasting flowers.  I have two of these and one blooms like clockwork in August/September and this one a couple months later.

 

Restrepia antennifera

The cooler weather is prompting the Restrepias to perk up and bloom. R. antennifera is one of the prettier and larger flowered spotted ones.

Coelogyne mooreana

The first spike to open on a Coelogyne mooreana.  This genus does well outdoors if you can keep it cool and moist.  Some species ramble but this one stays compact, has large flowers and a wonderfully hairy lip.

Laelia gouldiana

A showy Laelia from Mexico that blooms reliably outdoors.

Mediterranean terrestrials sprouting

Most of mine are up and growing well now—some of them you can see here.  A few empty pots left, but fingers crossed that something still sprouts in those—one (a Diuris) just peeked through today.

 

 

From Roberta Fox:

 

Outside in the Back Yard:

Paphipedilum spicerianum

This is a totally charming litle Paph. This one has taken some patience... quite a few years since it last bloomed, I had forgotten just how cute it is.

Cleisocentron gokusingii

A nice flush bloom on this true-blue species. With cool nights, the color is definitely better than the last several blooms. The oldest flowers have faded to a pale blue-gray but the newer ones have nice depth of color. This species is often sold as Cleisocentron merrillianum, but the latter has longer, distinctly terete leaves while this one hs shorter, semi-terete leaves. The flowers look identical.

Cirrhopetalum (Bulbophyllum) hirundinis

This cool-growing Bulbophyllum offers brilliant color, and can bloom several times a year.

Laelia anceps f. alba

Laelia anceps season is underway. Here are a couple of the earliest ones to bloom.

Laelia anceps (f. gigas x f. roeblingiana)

The roeblingiana (peloric form) is nowhere to be seen. I'm sure that the hope for this cross would be to get a large, vigorous peloric form. Perhaps in another generation... The peloric form tends to be small, and a slow grower. This one has the size, form, and vigor of the f. gigas parent.

Cattleya percivaliana

The first of sevaral to bloom, It grows easilly outside. It is lightly fragrant... some people don't like the fragrance, I find it quite nice.

Epigeneium nakaharae

This Dendrobium relative grows mounted. It is a rambler, and seems to grow and bloom best once it crawls off the slab.

 

Dendrochilum cobbianum

Hundreds of tiny flowers on pendant spikes, almost like strings of pearls. It seems to bloom best after it has filled the pot with new growths.

Laelia rubescens f. rosea

Mounted plant is very floriferous, but flowers are delicate and relatively short-lived. Waiting for semi-alba to bloom, proably next month.

Ada (Brassia) brachypus

Brassia (mostly Central America, large spidery flowers) and Ada (mostly South America, smaller flowers) have been lumped together. This one is a miniature version of Ada, my fingers for scale. Flowers are relatively long-lasting, and open over a period of several weeks extending the bloom time even more.

 

Prosthechea (Encyclia) garciana

The flowers tend to hide down in the leaves, so difficult to get a photo that shows what a fluch bloom this is. Non-resupinate (lip on top) flowers are intriguing.

Ceratostylis retisquama (rubra)

This species, from the Philippines, has a reputation as a warm-grower. However, when it saw it online, it was listed as "cool to warm". I asked the seller about the contidions under which it had been grown, and was told that the greenhouse went down into the mid 40's F on winter nights. I got it last January, so it has experienced some signinficang cold. A few weeks ago it was into the low 40's while it was in bloom and it still stayed in bloom for about 3 weeks. So clearly it can tolerate cold. It blooms on and off much of the year.

In the greenhouse...

Bulbophyllum lasiochilum

A rambling growth habit, so it needs to grow on a mount.

Laelia aurea

It is closely related to Laelia rubescens, but seems to need to be kept a bit warmer. I tried one outside that didn't survive, it has done much better in the greenhouse.

Dendrobium smilliae

I love the contrast between the black lip and the pink and white flowers. It is native to Papua-New Guinea and northern Australia. Note that it blooms on old, leafless canes.

Dendrobium bracteosum (x Dendrobium tanii)

This plant was labeled "Den. bracteosum x Den. tanii", but Den. tanii is not listed as a separate species anywhere that I could find. (Andy's Orchids website indicates that it is a newly-described species, but doesn't seem to have been fully accepted as such yet.) Den. bracteosum var. tanii is a somewhat smaller plant than the typical Den. bracteosum. So this is either a primary hybrid (if Den. tanii gets accepted as a separate species) or it is Den. bracteosum, a cross of two forms of the species. The flowers last for months, and about the time that the finally fade, a new batch is on the way so it is nearly perpetually in bloom.

Bulbophyllum medusae

This display is really a whole group of individual flowers. The inflorescence only lasts a week or so, but is spectacular while it is in bloom.