Bloom Event - Paphiopedilum King Arthur

I keep saying I'm not a big grower of Paphiopedilum, but I do have a fair few. This is one of my older ones and it blooms quite regularly. As a complex hybrid, it seems adaptable to conditions which wouldn't necessarily suit some of the species in its parentage. It is almost plain leafed but does have some faint markings with fairly glossy narrow foliage with delicate purple markings at the base and along the midrib on the back. I very much like the colour on this one, as it is nice and rich. I imagine, given the specific colour, that my plant is the cultivar 'Bourgogne' though I wouldn't swear to it as it didn't come to me as that.

One trait that I always notice with 'King Arthur' is how shiny the flowers are. The petals and pouch are really glossy, like they have been lacquered. Blooms take a good week from opening before they are properly unfurled and expanded to their full size and shape, and this is rather a large flower, but without the chunky artificialness you get with some of the more complex 'bulldog' Paphiopedilums. This hybrid looks to me to be much more simple than it really is.

This is a tough, easy to grow plant that seems to grow into a clump readily, and will produce multiple blooms with time. I have it planted in a deep rose pot filled with moss and bark chips.

It can be seen quite clearly on the above photo that this plant seems to like to climb. This is a habit I usually associate with certain Phragmipedium hybrids, but not usually with Paphiopedilums. The fan closest to the front has a noticeable length of 'stem' beneath it, and the new growth just emerging on the right is standing proud of the growing medium. At first I thought there might be a root problem and the plant was trying to get away from its growing medium, but when I turned the plant out of the pot, I discovered a very healthy and vigorous root system, so this can't be it. There are still a couple of unflowered growths sitting at the correct level, so I can't just pot it deeper or they'll rot off. The only option I can see is to divide the plant up and plant each division at the correct level. I don't really want to do this, though, as I wanted to grow it into a specimen plant. I suppose I could divide the plant up and re-plant all the divisions at the correct level in the same pot, but that goes against all my instincts as an orchid grower!

This just goes to show that each plant has its idiosyncrasies. This especially applies to Paphiopedilum as they can't be propagated by meristem like many other orchids can, so each plant is either seed grown (more likely) or an straight division of a larger plant. If all of the 'King arthur' in this batch has been seed grown, it follows that each plant will be slightly different, and this weird habit my plant has is something specific to it. I guess I'll just have to live with it and do what I think is right when it is time to repot. Here's a shot of the entire plant to finish.