Bloom Event - Phragmipedium silver rose 'pick n mix' x schlimii

I don't grow an awful lot of slipper orchids. Having said that, there will be another post in the coming days. I got this beauty from Ratcliffes Orchids (who I hear are closing down, which is a terrible shame) at a show about a year ago. Being a Phragmipedium, this enjoys rather wet conditions, so I grow it in Rockwool cubes. Rockwool is basically glass fibre spun out to the consistency of candy floss (OK, OK, excuse the hyperbole) and cut up into cubes. It has the virtue of holding a LOT of water and air and never breaking down. Phragmipedium are generally not difficult to grow. I suspect that this particular hybrid (due to the amount of P. Besseae in its backgrownd) could do with being grown rather cooler than I can manage. Maybe I'll put it in the cattleya room which is usually a little cooler than the main growroom. 

The flowers on this hybrid are actually rather small and are borne once at a time sequentially from the top of the flower spike. The flowers drop without warning in perfect condition just as the next bud begins to open. I seem to get four or five flowers per spike. As you can see, they are an attractive colour and texture, and have the terrific bonus of being very fragrant. I have grown to never expect any scent from a slipper orchid. It took me ages to work out where the smell was coming from. One flower can be smelled from across the room at certain times of the day. A friend tells me this trait comes from P. schlimii.

This plant does have its negatives, though. Along with several superficially gorgeous hybrids involving P. besseae, this plant has a very annoying tenancy to produce new growth from a rather long piece of rhizome. This in itself wouldn't be a problem except that it insists on growing vertically upwards rather than along the surface of the growing medium. This means that it is very difficult to keep the base of new growths in contact with the growing medium and if you don't, they won't produce new roots. Cue frequent repotting. This would explain why we don't see these plants nicely clumped up with several flower spikes at once.

I should explain that the growth habit in Phragmipedium is at least superficially similar to that of the more commonly grown slipper orchid, Paphiopedilum. A fan of leaves is produced, which produces a flower spike bearing one or several sequential or simultaneous opening blooms. The fan then gradually sends its energy into new growth and eventually dies. It is actually no different to other sympodial orchids (most of them, don't ask), except that no pseudobulbs are produced. Usually new growth or growths are produced directly from the base of the existing fan of leaves, producing an attractive clump of foliage, but some species produce a length of rhizome first so the new fan is produced at a distance from the mother plant. "Why are these plants used in hybrids?" I hear you ask. Mostly, they have superior flowers in some way or another, or they might be good growers or strong rooters. Hybridizers can often breed these undesirable traits out. Sometimes they can't. In this case, since P. schlimii usually behaves itself, I hold P. besseae responsible.