Nursery Visit - Burnham Nurseries

Phew. Feels like its been ages since I posted last. I literally haven't stopped. The gardening season is upon us and suddenly the weather has cottoned on to the fact that it is May meaning there are a lot more projects to be eating into my time. I'll continue to post though, because Orchids wait for no man, and there are already things to show you all.

I will do a new plants post separately to this so the pictures I post on here can't be mistaken for my own plants. During my recent visit to Cornwall I managed to drop into Burnham Nurseries (it's en-route....honest). As ever, the staff there were very friendly, and I was "sent" down to Orchid Paradise (the showroom where they put their specimen plants that are in bloom). I say "sent"; it was clearly no hardship to go and look at their stunning orchid collection. I took lots of photos and I'm still green with envy at the lovely plants they grow. It's good to see how the proper experts do it....I'm just an amateur, after all.

I also had lunch in their lovely cafe and was impressed with the food. Nothing fancy, but nicely done. The poor guys were having a bit of a rush but I was still impressed with the speed and quality of the food. No complaints from me there!

On to business....here are some photos of the lovely plants I saw there (some of them, at least). I will put names where I managed to get a photo of the tag.

Coelogyne Green Dragon. This was actually in the sales area, priced at £100. It is a huge plant, though.

I believe this is now called Coelogyne magnifica, though I always knew it as Coelogyne mooreana 'brockhurst'

Cochleanthes discolor.  There were some of these for sale in the sales area but truth be told I'm a bit frightened of Cochleanthes as I've never been successful with them.

Paphiopedilum malipoense. Quite a striking flower even for a non-Paphiopedilum lover like me.

Wilsonara widdecombe faire 'Burnham' - I've always liked these, but they do grow huge!

Sudamerlycaste locusta 'Chelsea'. I've never grown Lycaste or its relatives, but this apple green flower is quite striking.

Lycaste aromatica. Another orchid I love but have never been able to grow.

Maxillaria triloris. I think this will have to go on my 'to get' list. Love it.

Miltonia spectabilis. I have this plant in my own collection so hopefully there'll be a post about it when it blooms.

Miltonia flavescens. I have this one, too. Can't wait for flowers.

Dendrobium polysema. Bit of an oddity, but quite attractive to me, at least!

Two colour forms of Coelogyne ochracea. I particularly like the pale form of this species, but I find it difficult to grow as my conditions are rather too warm for it.

Dendrobium brymerianum. Another stunner that I can't grow!

And to finish, just a little Brassia in bloom. I didn't see what variety it was, but its quite impressive!

Comparing Eulophia - Species Or Hybrid ?

There is a condition in the orchid growing world that I call 'Species Snobbery' whereby a grower will look down his (or her) nose at any orchid that isn't a botanical species. I am glad to say I don't suffer from this condition. Quite often hybrids display the best attributes of their parents and are often far more forgiving of mistakes in culture than species can be. Of course there are numerous instances of a hybrid inheriting all the worst characteristics of its parents, too. Then there are the genera which for some reason the hybridists haven't been playing with yet. Into this category, at least to my mind, falls the genus Eulophia. As some of the sharper eyed of my readers might recall reading, I have in my possession a (an?) Eulophia hybrid. On its own, it has a lot going for it. There are 17 flowers on its flower spike, nicely spaced out on quite a tall stem.

Rather pretty, isn't it ? I still like the way the petals rise up above the lip like a little crown. The flower bears a resemblance in its form and colouring to Eulophia guineensis; one of its parents. In fact, the plant is a full three quarters Eulophia guineensis and carries lots of characteristics of its guineensis parent. Unfortunately, one of these traits is the unwillingness of it to bloom consistently. Eulophia guineensis is renowned for being bloom shy, and the hybrid is no exception to that.  Having said that, when it does bloom, the flower count and spike length is way higher than E. guineensis. The other species in the mix here is Eulophia euglossa which produces tall spikes with lots of flowers on. Sadly the flower is (at least to some people's eye) rather dowdier than E. guineensis, and this is another trait it has passed on to the hybrid, shrinking the lip size, washing out the pink colour and giving more brown to the upward pointing tepals. Luckily for our discussion, I do have Eulophia guineensis in bloom at the same time as the hybrid so I can compare them.

I will say right now that this looks to me to be a particularly good form of the species (line breeding I guess). You can see that the lip is much broader and more boldly coloured, and also that the upward pointing tepals are much pinker than the hybrid. Eulophia guineensis has produced two flower spikes from one growth (actually I have two plants; one has produced two spikes from one growth, the other has produced three growths and one spike...go figure). The flower count is lower with seven flowers on one spike and three on the other. Still a good show, though.  If we look at the flowers side by side, we can see the difference in flower size.

I should point out that the hybrid (on the left) is slightly closer to the camera, so looks slightly bigger than it actually is in relation to Eulophia guineensis on the right. I think you'll agree that the hybrid just has more washed out tones all round.

In terms of the plant itself (its a mistake to only look at flowers when making hybrids after all), they are actually quite similar. The hybrid has inherited taller pseudobulbs from E. euglossa, but they are not at all unweildy. The plant is slightly bigger than E. guineensis but isn't vastly bigger. Flowers are produced in the same way; as new growth emerges the flower spikes overtake them and bloom as the leaves are unfurling but before the new pseudobulbs have formed. As I mentioned before, Eulophia guineensis is known for being an unreliable bloomer.

Both of my plants have bloomed this year and I think I know what triggered it; though it might prove more luck than judgement. Once the leaves go yellow in the autumn, water is withheld completely. I don't give any water at all until new growth starts. Having said that, watering during the rest period doesn't seem to do any harm but it doesn't seem to get the plants going any earlier either. I don't keep them significantly cooler, just dry. I imagine they need to feel threatened before they decide to bloom. After all, if the plant is too comfortable it has no reason to bloom. Where the hybrid is concerned, Eulophia euglossa is a cooler grower, so I might have kept it too warm. Having said that, last year I put the plant in my (cooler) living room to bloom, only to watch the buds form and drop off one by one. I have several plants (not for much longer), and only one has bloomed.

Another thing with Eulophia guineensis and its hybrid is that they can take up quite a lot of room as they age. Each pseudobulb is quite fat and the plant will increase in width by at least a pot size every year. When repotting, there is a temptation to remove backbulbs and pot them separately to make new plants. This works fine and new plants invariably grow away fine, but I think it prevents the mother plant from blooming and this might be where their reputation for resenting disturbance comes from. I haven't found them to resent disturbance at all....repotted plants grow away just fine but tend not to bloom the following year. Potting on seems fine. Keeping the plants dry during winter does have the advantage of making the potting medium last longer than it otherwise would, but at some point flowers have to be sacrificed in order to replace the potting medium that is breaking down.

In summary, and tying back into the opening paragraph (which feels so long ago I'm almost tempted to post a link to it), I have to say I greatly prefer the species to the hybrid on this occasion. This hybrid has fallen into the classic trap of not being any better than its parents, having inherited only some of the good traits and quite a lot of the not so good ones. Of course, it is a very lovely plant in its own right and you can only be so scathing toward it when growing it next to at least one of its parents. Just to finish, look at the lovely nectar spur on the back of Eulophia guineensis; much shortened on the hybrid.

Bloom Event - Dendrochilum abbreviatum

I have grown rather fond of Dendrochilum species. OK, they're not so big and showy as many of the orchids I grow, but they are a little different from the 'norm' (whatever that is) and the small flowers and lovely scents invite the viewer to take a closer look. I don't know what I was expecting from this species, really, other than to assume it would be somewhat similar to D. magnum. I got it from (shock horror) Burnham Nurseries (link to the side), along with D. latifolium. Vegetatively, it looks just as much like a small Aspidistra as the other larger Dendrochilum species do. The leaves are longer and rather narrower than D. magnum. The flower spikes appeared rather early on while new growth was very young, and the now opening flowers are displayed below the adult foliage, before the new foliage has unfurled.

The flowers themselves are of a similar size to D. magnum so on the large side for the genus, but still not large. They are an overall greenish colour. I was expecting a brownish coloured lip, at least according to the label, but at the moment the lip is the same colour as the rest of the flower. It is possible that the lip will darken as the flowers age, as is the case with D. magnum.

These two photos are essentially similar but they do show the nice spacing of the flowers on the spike. They are rather hard to photograph with any accuracy because not only are the flowers small, they also point downwards and it is awkward to get underneath the plant to take a photo. I really should invest in a better camera and tripod to take photos of tiny flowers (I rather ashamedly refer you to the tiny flower comments I made in an earlier post). The photos make the flowers look rather yellower than they actually are. They are scented but not as strongly as some other species of Dendrochilum can be. Again, this might be something that will develop over the coming days. It had been my intention to post about this species next week, but once the blooms started to open I couldn't help myself. Honestly, I'm like a child in a sweetshop.

This species originates from Java, although it is not common there. In cultivation, it seems to like the constant warmth of my growroom (no surprise given its origins), and does not like to dry out at all, even when it is not actively growing. I wonder if many Dendrochilum have a bad reputation because they do only put on growth at certain times of the year (usually late winter and spring), and appear to 'sulk' for months on end before eventually sending up new shoots. No amount of water, fertilizer, heat or threats will get them going before they've a mind to. The natural response to this behaviour is to assume that the plant is resting and that it wants a dry rest, but this doesn't seem to be the case with many Dendrochilum, and I have found that the only effect a dry rest will produce is premature leave drop.

According to what I read (at Dendrochilum.com) the pseudobulbs should be further spaced, at 5cm. It could be that the species is variable and the clone I have naturally has shorter internodes. My plant is definitely more 'clumpy' and would be rather hard to accommodate if it had 5cm rhizome between its pseudobulbs. It is worth bearing in mind that when dealing with the lesser grown botanicals such as this and many other Dendrochilum species, there isn't the wealth of information out there that you find for other more widely grown species. There is always going to be some speculation about the provenance of the plant you have.

There is an ingrained habit among orchid growers of assuming that their plant is the one that is correctly labelled while everyone else's is wrong. I have encountered this many times and have now given up commenting on many posts on various forum that I would otherwise find very interesting because of it. I try to remain open to the opinions of others where naming is concerned because there is always the chance that the mistake has been made either by me or by the person who sold me the plant. In the case of the above, I keep the name D. abbreviatum because it is the closest fit to the plant I have, and I wouldn't pretend to know better than either the nursery it came from or the taxonomists who gave it that name in the first place. We must remember that species are constantly being discovered (and lost) and that some plants that have been in cultivation for a very long time might not be correctly named according to modern knowledge.

At any rate, I am very pleased indeed with my Dendrochilum abbreviatum. I won't lie and say it was particularly cheap, but it seems keen to earn its keep and is easy to grow. It has produced five new growths which is three more than I was expecting, and correspondingly, has produced five flower spikes, too. I definitely think this plant will bulk up rather quickly and should start to produce even more impressive shows of flowers even than this one. It might not win a beauty contest when compared to Cattleyas or Vandas, but it has a beauty in its own right and I firmly believe more of these more obscure species should be grown.

Bloom Event - Vanda Princess Mikasa 'Blue'

Yes, I know, another Vanda. It's getting boring, isn't it ? This particular plant has been languishing for ages with general malaise. Nothing ostensibly wrong with it, just not happy. And more importantly, not really growing or flowering. The leaves sort of folded up as if it was short of water, but I knew it couldn't be as it has been getting the same amount and frequency of water as all the other Vanda which are doing fine. I can only conclude that I did something a year or more ago that upset it and it has, in its own way, sent me to a kind of horticultural purgatory as a result. Now it has decided in its own inimitable way that I've suffered enough and has dutifully sprung back to life. The leaves have filled out again, it has started to grow and more importantly, it has produced some flowers.

I had quite forgotten what a handsome hybrid this is. I know I have it in a variety of colours which are all lovely in their way, but the blue is my favourite. Just like the other Mikasa hybrids I have, it is growing in a deep rose pot with coarse bark chips and seems to be thriving. Rather than just looking at the roots I can see at the surface, I like to look underneath at the bottom of the pot and if I can see roots at the bottom of the pot, I know my plant is happy. So it is with this one. Hence I cannot understand its sulking for so long. The flowers are, if anything, marginally larger than either Mikasa pink or white. The blue also shows off the tesselations better than the other colours, and that is what I find so attractive in many Vanda that have V. coerulea in their parentage. The blooms are nicely spaced on the stem, too. There aren't so many blooms this time and I know the plant is capable of better (I think there are five or six), but it still looks impressive.

I have found with a lot of these 'blue' hybrids that they look quite purple in certain lights (i.e. under my growlights) but this one looks blue even there. The difference is quite noticeable when one of my Blue Magic is blooming too and it looks quite purple under the lights. I've probably said it before, but I'll say it again. These Mikasa hybrids are nice compact plants that flower several times a year under my conditions. Even though I only have one in each colour now (except for two pink), there is still almost always at least one of them in flower, and I get way more flower spikes from them than I do from any of my Phalaenopsis (apart maybe from cornu-cervi which keeps blooming from the same spikes).

If only I could work out why it spent so long sulking. I should hate to inadvertently upset it again and have to put up with another year long sulk. All appears well now, though, as you can see.

Bloom Event - Prosthechea Green Hornet

I really wasn't expecting this to flower so young. It is still in the 6cm pot from Burnham Nurseries, and hasn't outgrown it yet. Still, the ability to bloom while still so young bodes well for the future, I have to say.  Prosthechea Green Hornet is a primary hybrid between P. cochleata and P. lancifolia. I really can't keep up with the naming of these species and hybrids, because I'm pretty sure that P. cochleata is now in another genus altogether (possibly) and P. lancifolia is usually considered a synonym of P. cochleata, or whatever it's called today. Confused? You should be. I'd be very interested to learn the proper provenance of this hybrid, as it is also fragrant. I have another hybrid of P. cochleata called P. Octopussy which is definitely not fragrant. As I understand it, neither P. cochleata nor P. lancifolia is fragrant. Now (stay with me on this, and try not to look too bored), if your plant labelled as P. lancifolia has a fragrance (as mine does), it is most likely mislabelled and should be called Prosthechea trulla. As the hybrid carries the fragrance, I'm guessing that it is actually a hybrid of P. cochleata and P. trulla. Also, P. trulla is a smaller species in stature than P. cochleata, and blooms on a much smaller plant, which would explain the behaviour of Green Hornet.

It isn't a huge flower, but I do find it rather charming. I am a big fan of the scent of P. trulla and I was hoping that I'd like the scent of P. Green Hornet. I don't. Many would, I suspect, but I have a deep dislike of honey or anything that smells remotely of it and that's the smell that this plant has. Don't get me wrong - it's not so strong I feel an urge to chuck it out of the window and I'd certainly not get rid of a plant because I don't like the smell. If it grows and blooms it earns its keep and I'd rather it had an unpleasant smell than none at all. I can count six blooms on the spike (Yes, I can count up to six!) which I don't think is at all bad for a first blooming. Whether the flower size will increase over time I can't say (Prosthechea trulla doesn't have flowers much bigger than this), but I am reasonably sure that P. cochleata will assert itself before long and increase the flower count, and the size of the plant.

All in all, a lovely little plant whatever its called.

Bloom Event - Paphiopedilum (macabre x grandmaster) x charlesworthii

I'm going to have to stop saying that I don't grow many Paphiopedilum as it's clearly a lie. Today I show you another one. I got this as a bit of a punt really because it was not in bloom when I got it but it is a cross of P. charlesworthii so it ought to be interesting, oughtn't it? Also, it wasn't expensive either (a tenner from Burnham Nurseries) and seemed a nice quality, blooming size plant. This was only at Christmas so I'm very pleased to see it bloom so soon. No sign of new growth yet, but I expect it'll get its act together once it's done blooming.

I absolutely love the spotting on the petals, and the markings on the dorsal sepal. Just goes to show sometimes a punt can pay off, doesn't it? A very nicely proportioned flower indeed. Here's a full frontal.

I'm not sure what my problem with Paphiopedilum is, really. They just don't excite me, you know? I have heard of a horticultural affliction that some gardeners of tropical plants suffer from (me included) called "Cactus Blindness" whereby you can appreciate a nice specimen but, fundamentally, they all look the bloody same. Perhaps I suffer from "Slipper Orchid Blindness". Now that's a rather specialist form of horticultural hypochondria. I have been mooting the idea recently that I should grow less Paphiopedilum than I do and instead focus more on Coelogyne and Dendrochilum that I like more. I can't say that I can't grow Paphiopedilum (at least not the hybrids I have) because they grow well for me. I can only hope that I'm not hurtling down the slippery slope that a lot of orchid growers do. I have noticed many times with orchid growers that the older they get, the more they like to grow the orchids with the tiniest possible flowers, finally ending up growing Pleurothallis and its allies. I mean, why bother growing a plant that bears flowers that are too small to see? I don't mean to disparage the people who grow Pleurothallids at all, of course, and I am aware that there are plenty of them that produce large and attractive flowers, but they are in the minority.

Anyway, went rather off topic there, didn't I? This particular plant is nicely proportioned as well as having a handsome flower with quite dark foliage with some purple speckling towards the outside of the centre of the crown. Some Paphiopedilum have handsome flowers and enormous floppy foliage, or teeny weeny fans of foliage and huge flowers (not a problem for some, but I think the plants look out of proportion). I have said all along with orchids that the are truly knockout flowers on quite scruffy looking plants and this is often true, but Paphiopedilum quite often have nice foliage so they look good even when they aren't blooming.

Having said I am considering growing less of these, I think this one is a keeper. There are a couple like that. I don't think there'll ever be none at all but I can tweak the collection to just keep the ones that I particularly like. I'm only trying to please myself, after all.

Bloom Event - Coelogyne fimbriata and Coelogyne massangeana

It feels like ages since I've had time to sit down and write a blog post. Its only been a few days in real time, of course. Still, where orchids are concerned flowers continue to open and today I have two Coelogyne species to share with you. The first is a miniature species, Coelogyne fimbriata. I have always had a soft spot for this species even though it is one of the dowdier species in the genus. There has always been space in my collection for this miniature species (I call it miniature, but it can in fact reach gargantuan proportions given the time to grow into a specimen). Technically speaking this is a cool growing species, so I know I'm not getting the best out of it in my warm growroom. I know also that growing it mounted on a branch is probably not a great idea given my somewhat erratic watering practices. Nevertheless, this plant does bloom fairly regularly.

I really like the delicately fimbriated lip (hence the name fimbriata) and the diminutive stature of the flower. All the more amazing when you think how huge some plants of this genus can get. There are different blooming habits in the genus Coelogyne. Some bloom from the base of a mature pseudobulb in the traditional way, some bloom from the centre of new growth before it matures and some bloom from the top of the newly developed pseudobulb. This is one of those species that blooms from the top of a newly developed pseudobulb. There are specific words for these blooming habits but they aren't really important if we just want to enjoy pretty flowers.

I have this plant growing on a short log with a pad of moss underneath it at the moment. This probably isn't the ideal way to grow such a water hungry species, and I think I will re-think my culture of this species in the near future (which means, to the uninitiated, shove it in a pot). It hasn't really attached to the log and seems to want to grow horizontally away from it. If that isn't a hint, I don't know what is!

As you can see, there are two growing points to this so I'll probably divide it into two plants (it seems to have divided itself, so that won't be difficult). One thing that I never fail to appreciate is that the flower is quite large for the size of the plant. There is usually only one or two per spike, sadly, but large(r) plants have many many growing points and can stay in bloom for some considerable time. I find the scent rather unpleasant (sort of sweaty) but it isn't too strong, luckily.

And now on to a more showy species, Coelogyne massangeana. I got this plant from Burnham nurseries a year or so a go off the bargain bench, in spike, for a tenner. It put out two new growths  after it bloomed, and although it could have done better, it has produced a flower spike for me this time around. It can grow into quite a giant and I know my plant is still only a baby. Thankfully it seems very willing to bloom at a young age. I look forward to seeing it bloom once it has reached full size.

I suppose there are more brightly coloured flowers in the world (Coelogyne is a great genus if you like brown flowers) but there is something rather endearing about it. I love Coelogyne for the lip markings unusual colours. This species also has a very pleasant scent, always a bonus. The most striking thing about this species, though, is how the flower spikes hang down over the edge of the pot, and the sheer quantity of blooms on the spike. As I said, my plant is a baby, but you can see that it will be spectacular when it grows up.

Coelogyne massangeana is quite common in cultivation, but I have to admit its rare you see a large plant in bloom. Probably, this is because they are difficult to transport to shows when in bloom (those flowers are as delicate as porcelain and very easily marked), and also because the plants can grow to very large proportions. So if you want to see a fully grown plant doing its thing, you'll have to grow it yourself, or visit one.

After blooming I will be potting this on as the flower spike only just had room to get out of the pot and the new growth certainly won't. Probably a good thing, as I haven't done anything with it as yet; I was waiting for it to settle into the pot its in first. No sooner its done that, its ready to pot on. Such is life. One for a basket in future, I think.

In keeping with the above discussion about C. fimbriata, C. massangeana blooms from the base of the newly matured pseudobulb at the same time as new growth is started. Naturally this causes lots of confusion when we try to work out whether we are seeing new growths or flower spikes. I'm going through this harrowing experience with C. velutina at the moment, so watch this space.