Bloom Event - Vanda Kanchana 'Lavender Mist'

There always seems to be some Vanda or another in bloom, even though I've drastically reduced the amount of them I grow. They are increasingly turning up without names in garden centres. As I've said before, I have no actual problem with no ID plants, but all Vanda hybrids have a name and it seems pure laziness to me to not include them with the plants. Vandas are stately, beautiful orchids and to me it demeans both them and the people who took the trouble to breed them to not bother to provide their proper names. I know that where Vanda are concerned they can mostly be grown under the same conditions, but still. There are still subtle differences between them and it still helps to know which species are in their background.

Most modern hybrids have at least a proportion of Vanda coerulea in their parentage. This is a good thing because V. coerulea is a good reliable bloomer, easy grower and is tolerant of lower temperatures and lower light levels than many other species. These traits all pass to its children through several generations and have produced a range of colourful, easy to bloom and compact hybrids.

The particular hybrid I'm blogging about today is Vanda Kanchana 'Lavender Mist'. This is a very distinctive hybrid with a nice light colouring and very delicate tesselation on the flowers, courtesy of V. coerulea. The flower shape is very reminiscent of the species, especially with the lateral petals tendency to twist to horizontal (easier to see on the below photo, flower on the right).

This is one of those orchids that I see bloom and I always think 'could do better'. The plant is fully leafed to the base, but always seems a bit floppy. I have it potted in a deep rose pot with coarse bark chips at the moment, but I think I will try and root out a large pond pot to put it in once it is done blooming. It tends to produce five flowers per spike, and this is no exception, but I'm sure its capable of better. Hopefully, it'll settle down once I've re-potted it (again).

Believe it or not, this plant was given to me a couple of years ago, along with quite a few others, including a truly HUGE Vanda (post coming in the next few weeks) that must have cost a fortune. He was adamant he couldn't look after them and that he didn't want anything for them. Still, most of the plants he gave me have done very well. This particular one has bloomed several time since then so it must be fairly happy.