New Plants - Order from Orchid Botanics

There is quite a story to be told here; a thrilling one, if I say so myself. For some considerable amount of time, I have been after Coelogyne usitana (Google for pictures; its lovely). C. usitana is quite a new species to cultivation, as in less than 20 years, so its fairly natural that there aren't so many around. Burnham nurseries have a lovely awarded plant that really is a sight to behold in flower but I couldn't have that for some reason. I contacted the usual people in the UK but there weren't any plants of a saleable size around, so I cast the net rather further afield and found a couple of nurseries on the continent that stocked it. Sadly, one of them wasn't Schwerter otherwise I'd not have hesitated.

In the end I found quite a few of the Coelogyne species and a few non-Coelogyne I wanted at Roellke orchideen in Germany. I felt confident enough to order from them as I'd heard about them and they seemed to have a good reputation. C. usitana was one of the species they had that I wanted, but they also had C. asperata. I bought a C. asperata from Burnhams but it died almost as soon as I got it home. I assume it was too new a division, and probably needed more time to settle in before it was sold. Anyway, I ordered the C. asperata from Germany, along with a couple of Cattleya hybrids and two Epidendrum species. I didn't put the C. usitana on the order thinking that I would see what the plants were like before I placed a bigger order. And thank goodness I did because to say I was disappointed would be putting it rather mildly. The two Cattleya hybrids had not a live root between them, and the Coelogyne asperata (which I was quite exited about) looked as though it hadn't been watered for a month. The two Epidendrum were better, though I they could have been far better.

I don't know about anyone else, but when I order plants from a professional nursery, I always assume that they are far better at growing orchids than I am and I'll get a plant with nice healthy roots and I'll panic that I'll kill it. Not much to ask for, is it? So you can understand why I was disappointed. Anyway, I complained and the nursery refunded me, which is something. I'm not sure if it was an admission of responsibility or just to shut me up.  They didn't ask for the plants back and I am trying to save them, but it is a long and laborious process. One of the Cattleya didn't even have a live eye on its leading growth. However, one of the Epidendrum is showing a new shoot.

The Coelogyne asperata has started to recover. Luckily, it had a new shoot that was almost at the right stage to start to produce roots on its own. I should say now that that doesn't excuse not watering it. Coelogyne asperata, like most of the genus, does not like to dry out. Once I had been refunded and it became clear that I wasn't going to have to send plants back to Germany, I repotted the plant into bark chips and crossed my fingers. Over the past couple of weeks, I have noticed that the new growth has started to produce roots, so it looks like disaster has been averted at least for now. In fact, it looks like a second new growth has started to emerge now, too.

As you can see, the plant is still pretty wrinkly so we aren't out of the woods yet. At least we haven't lost any foliage. I will add that the plant is rather smaller than I was expecting for a flowering size Coelogyne asperata, too. The plant from Burnhams that died was huge (I guess size isn't everything). I am informed this plant is flowering size, though I don't expect flowers until it is significantly healthier.

I am very glad I didn't order the Coelogyne usitana from them, too. So my search continued.  Then out of the blue I got an email from a chap I got talking to (briefly) at a show last year asking if I was still interested in a Coelogyne usitana. The plant was even in spike. After a couple of photos and 28 emails, I got the plant this morning for what I consider to be a very reasonable price indeed. The plant is not in bad condition, good root system on it, and new growth that has yet to root out.

This is the plant as it arrived. There is some spotting on the leaves (mostly on the older leaves), but there is a nice new growth. I'm assuming its a fresh(ish) import, so it has survived its journey remarkably well. as I always do, I have removed the plant from its pot and had a good look at the roots. Lord only knows what it was potted in, but the plant seems to like it so I can't complain too much. I have replaced the growing medium with medium bark chips as I do with almost all new plants and have given it a good watering to settle it in. I present the plant in its new pot, looking not very different:

Looks better already, doesn't it? as a bonus, I was also sent a couple of backbulbs of Coelogyne odoardi; a species I'm not familiar with at all. From what I read it is a hot growing species allied to C. tomentosa with russet brown flowers on pendulous spikes. As a bonus it is also very fragrant (I say bonus, it might smell horrid). There are only a couple of backbulbs so we'll see whether they sprout or not. It looks like there's a live eye, so I guess it just depends on whether it decides to grow before it shrivels to much. I hope it does.