Bloom Event - Brassavola nodosa

This is a good performer and reliable bloomer for me. My readers will no doubt remember that I've written a blog post about this one before, back in February. I have had a few problems with this plant in the interim. I think I wasn't watering enough while it was hanging up. This species is very good at dealing with drought, but it performs better when not allowed to dry out at all. The leaves were very terete (pencil shaped) and slightly wrinkly. It looked very sorry for itself, and the new growth failed to bloom, otherwise there would have been flowers over the summer, I'm sure.

Since I put the plant on one of the benches so it catches more water, the leaves have opened out and plumped up and are now quite flat and plump. Interestingly, I can't see much in the way of roots in the pot itself, so I assume it likes the extra humidity the matting provides. Most of the roots are aerial and all seem healthy. Two of the growths (the leading one and the previous one) have produced spikes, but its too early to tell how many blooms I might get on the second spike. There are two blooms now open on the leading growth. There are never many flowers per spike, two or three seems quite normal.

My plant no markings at all on the lip, but some forms of the species have delicate purple spotting in the throat. I would dearly like to get hold of a plant like this (not that I'm dissatisfied with my own plant at all - I love it), so if any of my readers know where I might find one, contact me either via comments below or via my facebook page. I'd ask the original seller, but I've had the plant for some time and I haven't the faintest idea where it came from.  After a couple of days, the shape of the lip will improve (i.e. it will open out a bit rather than curling under) but I am always impatient to get a photo when blooms appear.

As you can see, the leaves are all lovely and plump and the plant looks healthier than it ever has before. There are two growing points, two spikes on the first (as described above); its too early to tell whether there'll be a spike on the other lead. I imagine there will be.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, this species is highly scented at night though I haven't experienced the scent yet this time around.