Bloom Event - Encyclia cordigera var. semi-alba

I think this might be one of my all time favourite orchids. Don't ask me why; I understand it isn't to everyone's taste, but I absolutely LOVE it. This blooms like clockwork every year for me (probably at around this time, but I'd have to trawl back through my Instagram account to find out for definite), and this year there has been an extra treat in that the plant sent up two new growths instead of the usual one, which has resulted in two flower spikes instead of the usual one.

There are, from what I can gather, three main colour forms of this species; rosea (lip all pink/purple), semi alba (lip white with a purple splodge) and alba (green flower with a white lip). This one I bought as a straight Encyclia cordigera (if such a thing exists), but I think what I actually have is Encyclia cordigera var. semi-alba, and a quick google search for that brings up loads of pictures of flowers similar to this one. Just to add an extra layer of annoying complexity to this already confusing and frankly rather boring situation, it appears that colour forms of a species no longer exist. This means that although there are at least three totally different colour forms of Encyclia cordigera, all of them are now officially called Encyclia cordigera so there will be no way to know what colour form you have until it blooms. It is this completely pointless taxonomic fiddling that makes labelling plants correctly far more difficult than it needs to be. I have but recently aquired the other two colour forms mentioned above and one of them is showing flower spikes, so hopefully I'll be able to compare and contrast them before long. Exciting for me!

Because of my lamentably lax record-keeping in the not too distant past, I have only a vague idea of the flower count the last time this species bloomed. It might only seem like a small detail in the grand scheme of things, but it is, in fact, quite important. Flower count can tell you a lot about the health of a plant. I have it in my mind that there were five or six flowers on one spike last time this species bloomed. This time there are six flowers on two spikes. It seems reasonable to me to assume that the plant has put extra energy into creating an entire new lead growth this year, and has still found the strength to produce the same amount of flowers as it did last year. It is a little early to tell just yet, but I would say that the two new growths this year will both turn out a little larger than the single growth it produced last year. Larger growths this year will (hopefully) mean more flowers on each spike next year. Once one transcends to the realms of obsessively buying orchids and then not killing them, details like this become very important so I can make a better job of it in future.

All of these very intricate details aside, the plant definitely needs re-potting, as you will see in the photo below. It has been in the same 10cm pot for three years, and the roots are starting to suffer. In fact, most of them just stay on the surface, although I have noticed with other Encyclia in the past that they aren't very good at sending roots into the growing media. When I repot, I will remove all the old growing medium and replace the pot, too, probably with a pond pot (my new favourite piece of Orchid related paraphernalia) and coarse bark chips (my second favourite piece of Orchid related paraphernalia). I'll need to buy more before long, I'm on my last bag!

It isn't as pot-bound as it looks, I promise. This habit of roots going everywhere is perfectly normal and is only what the plant would do in nature. Notice the burn marks on a couple of the leaves. That is a result of putting the plant in the greenhouse last summer. I must have left the tiniest chink in the greenhouse shading, and a single shaft got in and scorched the leaf. Its a good job I don't show my plants! How I managed to burn a plant in a summer as shabby as last years is beyond me, but such is life.

As a slight aside, in an update to a previous new plants post, I have to say that the two other colour forms of this species that I got are doing rather well. The larger plant has sent out a raft of new roots from its THREE newly maturing growths, AND is sending up at least two and, more likely, three flower spikes. The smaller plant (var. alba) is sending up two new growths. I call that a result and very high quality plants supplied to me. I have re-potted both plants into a pond pot with medium bark (Encyclia species seem to appreciate even faster drainage than most orchids and really resent being overly wet when they aren't growing, so maybe I should have used coarse bark instead. I expect I'll get into the growroom later to find I actually DID use coarse bark and I've been telling you all a pack of lies all along.). I am looking forward to being able to compare the three plants directly.

The blooms have a curious scent that reminds me a bit of playdough, but sweeter. It is not at all unpleasant, but it is rather odd. I expect there is some obscure insect somewhere in Mexico that finds it utterly irresistible, otherwise there'd be no wild population. There are a few hybrids involving this species floating around, but I'm not sure that they are really any improvement on the botanical species, and I'm pretty certain they aren't any easier to grow, either. One such hybrid, Epicyclia Serena O'Neill, has made it into my collection, but the only real improvement I can see (or smell) is the scent. There are more flowers, but they are smaller, and they don't quite have the botanical charm of the species.