Continuing our Masdevallia theme we have Masdevallia ivanii. This species was first decribed in 2006 and is a small growing Masdevallia from Ecuador with large long lasting flowers for the size of the plant (the leaves in the photo are just 4cm long)

It is found at around 1500m and so is cool growing but not excessively so. It seems to do well with a minimum of 12C but we have found that it really enjoys shade and heavy watering and we have noticed a real improvement in growth since the layer of natural moss has formed on the bark compost.