Bloom Event - Phragmipedium longifolium

Much as I'm no real lover of slipper orchids, I do still have a few Phragmipedium species and hybrids. I'm not the world's best grower of them, but they do OK for me.

At the moment, I have Phragmipedium longifolium in bloom. I have seen specimens of this plant that are very large indeed with flower spikes several feet high and branched, but my plant is much more modest than that. To be quite honest, I'm having trouble persuading it to bulk up so there is only ever one growth and a new growth. It grows and flowers regularly, so I'm in no hurry to change its culture. Although it is a green flower, I find it rather charming in a way that Paphiopedilum isn't.

Flowers are quite large (around 5 or 6 inches from tip to tip) and are produced sequentially on the spike with the present flower dropping just as the new bud is opening. As is typical with Phragmipedium in general, the flower drops without warning while still in perfect condition; without any process of 'going over' that you would see on any other orchid. This type of Phragmipedium often get called 'Mandarin Orchids', probably a reference to the droopy petals looking like a Chinese moustache. At any rate, it can't be a reference to the plant's origin as Phragmipedium all come from South America.

One major difference I have noticed between the flowers of Phragmipedium and Paphiopedilum is that the rim of the lip is always folded inside the flower on Phragmipedium (i.e. the rim you see is a fold while the edge itself is inside the pouch). On Paphiopedilum, the rim is not folded. Whether this is a feature intended to modify the aperture of the pouch while not impacting on its size or visual impact, I don't know but it is something which interests me.

One might describe the flower as dowdy, but the more one looks at it, the more intricate patterning and colour distribution is revealed. Note the red speckling on the base of the lip just below the staminode, the red stripe bordered by white on the petals and the delicate netting on the dorsal sepal. Notice also the apple green splodge just marking the opening to the pouch. All of this detail is easy to miss, even on a flower this large.

Although I have already said that this plant is not performing to its best, it still grows and blooms regularly and in this respect many Phragmipedium have an advantage over their Asian cousins, the Paphiopedilums, in that they tend to be faster growing and bloom more reliably. They can (and should) be grown a good deal wetter than almost any orchid I have ever attempted to grow (except maybe for Disa), and most species and hybrids are perfectly happy standing in a tray of water. They do not like to dry out at all and plants will suffer if they do. They probably prefer rainwater over tapwater as most orchids do, but my tapwater is very soft anyway so I'm not having any problems with water quality. These are the only orchids that I don't grow in bark chips although I see no reason not to use bark chips provided the plants are repotted regularly. My own plants are potted in rockwool cubes as they can be kept wet at all times and do not break down. The only issue with rockwool is that fertilizer salts can build up and cause problems. Regular flushing with fresh water and not overfeeding will help to sidestep this issue.