Bloom Event - Vanda Princess Mikasa white

I have posted not too long ago about the Vanda Princess Mikasa hybrids blooming and there's another one at it now. I don't grow anywhere near as many Vanda as I used to, but there's still nearly always one in bloom. They do have an annoying habit of all blooming together, but I guess I shouldn't begrudge them that. There are others in spike as I type ready to take over when the three in bloom now are done.

I have never quite been able to decide whether the white Mikasa hybrid is elegant in a cool pristine kind of way or if its a bit dowdy. Today, I like it. I think the problem is that it isn't really white enough. It is more ivory and pale green, at least when stood next to flowers that really are white. At any rate, it blooms frequently....better value for money than most Phalaenopsis by far. Having counted the remains of the old flower spikes, I can confirm that these flowers adorn its tenth flower spike. That is the mark of a happy plant.

It seems the flower count and size do not increase with age, but I'm not really complain given that many growers can't get Vanda to do anything at all. Just like most of my other Vanda I have it in a Cymbidium pot with coarse bark chips. As pointed out elsewhere, I am experimenting with other ways of growing Vanda but I can't see the logic in disturbing this one when it seems perfectly happy as it is. There are roots at the bottom of the pot, and roots coming out of the top. There isn't bare stem at the base of the plant either, so the plant still looks nice and neat and tidy. I got all of those Princess Mikasa hybrids at the same time, probably in 2012. They seem to be the most forgiving of the Vanda hybrids, highly recommended by me. The only problem is that they tend to turn up in garden centres unlabelled and, usually, pre-killed (to save you the bother of abusing them). Much better to find a specialist nursery that sells them (I've sold all my spare plants, unfortunately, except for a pink one that I have two of).

Many Vanda hybrids get large and ungainly, with quite large leaf spans. One of the things I like so much about these Mikasa hybrids is that they stay nice and compact and fit easily on a windowsill. I'm pretty sure they would be more popular if only there weren't so many stories going round about how tricky Vanda are to grow.