June 2025

From Scott McGregor:

All orchids grown outdoors, coastal southern California

Diplocaulobium

A flush bloom, with a powerful fragrance of watermelon. Flowers last only a few hours, so you just have to be there!

Capanemia superflua (uliginosa)

One of my favorite miniatures and now after six years getting to be big enough to have some tiny drama! This twig epiphyte takes a bit of pampering and seems to grow best mounted and with bright light. Fragrant.

Euchile (Encyclia, Cattleya) citrina

This one is fussy, but worth growing for its unusual pendant flower habit and bright yellow, strongly lemon-scented flowers. I have two plants and usually one or the other, but not both, will give me a single flower each year. This year, both were in spike, but one blasted and I guess to compensate, I got two flowers from the same growth on the other. Never seen that before!

Cleisocentron species

An unidentified Cleisocentron species from Andy Phillips with much broader leaves than either C. gokusingii or C. merrillianum. Nice blue and no photoshopping the color!

Angraecum germinyanum

Domingoa (Nageliella) angustifolia

The flowers aren’t much by themselves, but this plant is so cheerful, easy to grow, and has long-lasting flowers that blooms repeatedly off old flower spikes (never cut them).

Sobralia rupicola

An excellent species with flowers that last a few days and sequentially opens multiple buds near the ends of the canes.

Epidendrum lacustre 'Wow Fireworks' AM/AOS
(purple form from Panama)

Even with only five of ten flower spikes open, this giant fast-growing species makes a statement. A gift from Roberta, this terrestrial loves water (grows near river banks), fertilizer, and full sun.

Masdevallia veitchiana
'Prince de Galle' AM/AOS

I used to have trouble growing Masdevallias until I got a bunch of big, climate-adapted clones from Kai Klausing and gave them very bright light. Now I have big red and orange flowers every spring!

From Roberta Fox: Coastal southern California
Outside in the Back Yard:
Anacamptis papilonacea The last of my European Mediterranean terrestrials to bloom. All of this group are going dormant and I'm reducing water, soon to stop.
Angraecum germinyanum The best bloom that I have seen from this plant. I had 8 flowers open at one time, with 3 buds. As the first 8 started to fade, the last three opened. Most of the plant is outside the basket, with growths in all directions and a forest of roots. Native to Madagascar, central plateu region with elevation up to 1500 m.

Arpophyllum giganteum From southern Mexico through Central America to Venezuela, elevations 350-2100 m. In a 10 inch basket with hardly any media.
Barbosella cucullata The yellow-green flowers tend to blend into the leaves, but this miniature Pleurothallid is a ball of flowers. Flower size about 1.5 inches. Native to Andean South America, elvation 1700-2900 m.
Bifrenaria harrisoniae Southern Brazil, 200-800 m, growing in full sun. It is in the brightest spot that I can find, just barely adquate. Love that lip! It is lightly fragrant.
	Angraecum equitans From Madagascar, elevation 2000 m. Leaves are very succulent.
Bulbophyllum hamatipes Waxy, shiny flowers that are short lived so while I got multiple flowers, it didn't produce a flush bloom. Native to Java 750-1800 m.
Cattleya schroederae Native to Colombia, 1400-1600 m. Sunny-side-up egg?	Warczewiczella (Cochleanthes) discolor Native to a wide range of southern Central America to northern South America, 700 - 2300 m.
Cattleya mossiae f. semi-alba The national flower of Venezuela, 900-1500 m. Locally, it is known as "Flor de Mayo" ... the Flower of May.
Coelogyne nitida From a wide area of the east Himalaya area through southeast Asia, elevation 1500-2300 m.
Dendrobium rindjaniense Native to the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia, 2000 m. It blooms repeatedly on a given cane, mostly on leafless ones but also some with leaves. I don't dry it out in winter. It can bloom twice a year.
Dendrobium aphyllum (Syn. Den. pierardii) Not a leaf in sight. New growth will start later. It doesn't get dried out in winter, but dries quickly on its bare mount. Native to a wide area of the Himalayas, southern China, and southeast Asia, elevations 150-1800 m. Not fussy!
Dendrobium jenkinsii This "little brother" to Den. lindleyi blooms much more reliably for me, wth no special attention. Native to pretty much the same wide range as Den aphyllum, elevations 500-2000 m.
Epidendrum lacustre 'Wow Fireworks' Blooming reliably, it must be May! This is the purple Panama form. The more typical form is green and white. To get the strong color in the flowers requires growing in full sun. The plant loves to be sopping wet. To maintain that, it is in a plastic pot with a big lump of sphagnum in the middle, just filled in with bark.

Maxillaria pumila (minuta) Flowers 1/4 to 3/8 inch, stiff succulent leaves. Native to Brazil, 500-750 m.

Renanthera pulchella Native to Myanmar. IOSPE describes it as "hot growing" but with no elevation information, Kew also doesn't give an elevation. It likely grows over a range of elevations since it clearly tolerates cool winters. A small plant in a 4 inch basket.

Coelogyne speciosa Grows best after it has escaped from the basket, I cut away one side to give the new growths room. Each inflorescence can produce two or more flowers sequentially, extending the bloom. Native to Java, Sumatra, Borneo at elevations 600-1800 m.
Dendrobium crepidatum Blooms on the bare canes from the previous year, new growth just starting. Northern India, Himalaya, and south central China, and southeast Asia. As with most of the others in this group, it doesn't get dried out in winter, the cold is sufficient trigger for blooming.
Dendrobium ochreatum Same range and growing conditions as Den. crepidatum. This one blooms on growths with leaves.

Epidendrum parkinsonianum Big, night-fragrant flowers. The plant is quite flexible, with its pendant growth habit. Leaves are very succulent. Mexico through Central America.
Epidendrum falcatum This close relative of Epi. parkinsonianum is native mostly to Mexico. Leaves are also very succulent. However, the plant is very brittle. Growths tend to come out at right angles to the mount, and break off easily. The broken growths are easy to root, though. This one gets photographed in its growing area, doesn't get moved!
Maxillaria tenuifolia No-calorie coconut... grows either mounted or in a pot, easy to propagate. Mounted is probably easier if you can water it daily since it loves to climb.
Oncidium (Odontoglossum) naevium Colombia and Venzuela, 1200-2000 m. I love the curly segments and the little "whiskers" on the sides of the column.
Pholidota chinensis Native to China (of course), also Thailand and Vietnam.
Phalaenopsis (Sedirea) japonica f. minmaru One of the monotypic genera that got lumped into Phalaenopsis. Native to Japan and Korea. This is a miniature form of the species, but the flowers are the same size as those of the typical form.
Stelis maxima Pardon the water droplets, but to capture the open flowers one has to get up early in the morning. Later in the day, they close up, to open again the next morning. A stately plant. From Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela at elevations 1700-3200 m.
Trichocentrum auricula (Oncidium harrisonianum) Where most of the genus Trichocentrum (Mule-ear Oncidiums) tend to be warm-growing, this one is cold tolerant. From southern Brazil, elevation around 1000 m. Leaves are very hard, and the mount is bare, it dries out quickly. It has forgiven many rookie mistakes and just keeps getting better.
Scaphosepalum beluosum	Scaphosepalum swertifolium ssp. exiguum
Scaphosepalums bloom repeatedly on multiple inflorescences, for several years. Forms are intricate, these little gems are best appreciated in close-up photographs. Not tidy... don't cut bare inflorescences because they may just be taking a breather between blooms. When they're really done, they're brittle and break off easily.
Vitekorchis excavata (Oncidium excavatum) Colombia, Ecuador, Peru at elevations 2000-2800 m. I'm not changing my old tag, this is the current classification.	Telipogon papilio If it will just survive the summer... so far it has tolerated some significant heat so I am hopeful since it is producing another new growth, this was the second growth to bloom on my watch. Native to Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru at elevation 2800-3000 m. in wet cloud forests. Most of this large-flowered section of Telipogons need a cooler, controlled environment, perhaps I have found a more tolerant species.
	Sobralia macra The taxonomy this group of Sobralias from Central America is very messy so the species may or may not be correct. This is a bushy plant about 2 feet tall. Scott and I have another species that is related, labeled S. macra but not, that is a miniature with very different flowering habit.
Just getting started, will bloom all summer:
Eulophia speciosa First flower just opened (end of May). The buds will continue to open, and the inflorescence will produce new ones, over the next several months. Native to much of east Africa from Ethiopia south to the Cape. It grows in gravel and sand. It gets rain but no supplemental water in winter.	Prosthechea (Encyclia) vitellina Flowers will continue to be produced until fall. As old flowers drop, new buds will open on a lengthening inflorescence. Native to southern Mexico into Central America.
In the greenhouse...
Brassavola sp. Probably from Brazil. it came mis-labeled, so I know what it's not but not what species it is.
	Broughtonia sanguinea From Jamaica. it has many color forms, from the solid red (hence the name) to pink, patterns like this, and also an aurea form. Flowers are long lasting, and long spikes keep producing flowers for several months.

Dendrobium capituliflorum Pom-poms of flowers emerge from bare canes, reblooming on old canes over several years. From New Guinea

From Chris Ehrler:
California Central Coast Cool greenhouse unless otherwise noted.

Cymbidium devonianum A cool growing epiphyte or lithophyte growing at 1,000 to 2,000 meters in Assam India, eastern Himalayas, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. This orchid is growing outside under lath shade and is potted in a plastic pot filled with sphagnum moss.
Dendrobium chrysotoxum var. suavissimum A cool to warm growing epiphyte growing in Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, China, eastern Himalayas, Bangladesh and Assam India at elevations of 400 to 1,600 meters. Growing in a plastic pot filled with a bark and lava rock mixture.

Dendrobium trantuanii In orchidspecies.com this is reported to be a warm growing epiphyte native to in northwestern Vietnam elevations of 800 to 1,000 meters. But this orchid is growing well mounted on a piece of cork bark which is in a cool greenhouse. It has survived 40 F nights in winter.

Dracula antonii An epiphyte that was collected in Colombia without any collection data. This orchid is growing in a mesh pot filed with a bark and lava rock mixture.
Dracula inaequalis A warm to cold growing epiphyte native to the Choco, Antioquia and Valle de Cauca departments of Colombia and Ecuador at altitudes of 400? to 2,200 meters . This orchid is growing in a mesh pot filled with a bark and lava rock mixture.	Dracula janetiae A cool growing epiphyte found in Peru and possibly in Ecuador at elevations around 1,700 meters. This orchid is growing in a mesh pot filled with sphagnum moss.
Masdevallia caesia A cool to cold growing species found in southwestern Colombia in cloud forests at elevations of 1,600 to 2,200 meters. It is a pendant species which produces flowers with an odd odor. Generally, it blooms in March but it is blooming in June this year. Grows in a mesh pot filled with sphagnum moss that is hung outside under a wood lath cover. (Ed.: Wow!)

Sarcochilus hartmannii Another color form of this species (less red in the center than last month's). Grows natively in eastern Australia as a cool to hot lithophytic and sometimes epiphytic species found at elevations up to 1,000 meters. This orchid grows year-round outside under a wood lath covered area. It is growing in a plastic pot filleded with a bark and lava rock mixture.
Xylobium leontoglossum A cool to cold growing epiphyte and occasional terrestrial found in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru at elevations around 2,000 meters. This orchid is growing in a clay pot filled with a bark and lava rock mixture. Leaves are about 3 feet tall.

From Arnold Markman:
Coastal San Diego area Intermediate Greenhouse, 60% shade cloth, daily watering unless otherwise noted.

Coelogyne usitana This orchid grows on Mindanao Island in the Philippines. It grows up to 800 m and listed as warm to hot growing. I was a little concerned that it would not do well in my greenhouse which gets down to 46° at night in the winter, but it seems to be doing quite well.

Cymbidium tigrinum This orchid grows high in the Himalayas of India.The flowers are quite long lasting.
Dendrobium stricklandium From Japan and grows at about 1500 m. It gets watered daily during the growing season but rarely during winter.

Dendrobium unicum This orchid grows at about 1500 m in Thailand. I water it almost every day in the growing season but gave it a dry winter rest from November through March. This one seems to be blooming on canes with leaves rather than leafless canes.

Dracula chimaera This Dracula grows in the mountains of Ecuador and is found as high as 2400 m. I water it daily year around and it is very close to my ventilation fan. It supposedly does not like warm weather but my greenhouse has gotten up into the high 80s occasionally during Santa Ana winds. An important factor is the difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures. My greenhouse normally has at least 10° difference and sometimes as much as 25° difference.

Dracula villegasii From Colombia at 1900 m. It is very vigorous, recently moved from a 4 inch to 6 inch basket.

Prosthechea (Encyclia) vitellina This Mexican orchid grows as high as 2600 m. It grows in the coolest part of the greenhouse.

Guarianthe (Cattleya) aurantiaca This orchid grows on a table outside under a 50% shade cloth along with epiphyllums and begonias. It gets watered overhead every fourth day year round. It has bloomed much better in this spot where it gets high solute San Diego water, than in the greenhouse with de- ionized water. It is from the mountains of Central America.

Masdevallia floribunda Native to Mexico and Central America at arund 1500 m.
Odontoglossum naevium Grows in the coolest part of the greenhouse.(Ed: Now Oncidium)

Phalaenopsis malipoensis This orchid grows at 1300 m in China. Flowers are quite long-lasting.
Scaphosepalum gibberosum This orchid grows at 2000 m in Colombia. It gets some shading from other plants.