Flowering now

Our member John E has kindly sent some photos of orchids he has in bloom around about now, with some reflections on one orchid that are timely for those of us with ‘shy’ plants, as we look forward to another year of growing, flowering and happy fellowship – keep trying!

John writes of this plant: The Cirrhopetalum (Bulbophyllum) eberhardtii is a plant I bought from Russell Hutton 9 years ago and this is the first time it has flowered for us. It has 3 spikes. This is the first one to flower. When I got it from Russell, it had no ID, so I had no ideas about culture. I grew it warm for a few years without success so I put it in the orchid house where it has responded to cold/intermediate temperatures, constant moisture and good air movement. It teaches us that a lot of patience is required with some orchids. Since I had no ID, I have identified it from pictures on the internet and I think I have got it right, but I am open to correction. One identifying feature is the fine ‘whiskers’ on the top of each individual flower – I think you can just see these in the photos.

Photos of some of the other plants in flower for John follow.

Bulbophyllum plumatum is found in Malaysia, Sumatra and The Philippines in swamp forests at elevations of about 1000-1500m and is a mini-miniature, cool growing epiphyte. Read more here.

Angraecum didieri is native to Madagascar and, so a website says, is as tough as nails! Flowers are fragrant at dusk.

Enanthleya Wiz Kid is a cross of Cattleya Lucky Chance x Guaricyclia Kyoguchi, and was registered by Leroy Orchids in 2017.

Oncidium longipes is native to Peru, southern Brazil and Paraguay, found in cool montane forests, as well as the lowlands along river banks. It is a small sized, cool- to hot-growing epiphyte.

John sent this as Promenaea unknown, but it’s likely to be Promenaea Crawshayana, a hybrid of the two most well-known species, P. xanthina (yellow) and P. stapelioides (spotted and barred wine-red), registered in 1905. For comparison sake, P. Crawshayana can be found in a few collections in our area. The species are found in the lowlands of Brazil, are intermediate to warm-growing and should never be allowed to dry out.

Paphiopedilum hirsutissimum var. esquirolei is native to northern Thailand, northern Vietnam and southern China, growing from 800-1800m.

Thanks so much for this tour of your flowering orchids John!