The school greenhouse has around 800 orchid species and around 40 of them are African Orchids. We have had the pleasure of coming across several Polystachya species during our expeditions to Rwanda and South Africa. Polystachya bella clearly shows the characteristic non-resupinate (upside down) flowers of the genus and produces long sprays of hairy golden […]

A new species for 365 days is this interesting species with long sprays of smallish flowers. Dendrochilum oxylobum is a species endemic to Borneo where it has been recorded from Kalimantan, Sarawak and Sabah. In Sarawak it has been recorded from Kuching district and this makes the species significant to us as we are working with […]

One of our favourite dendrobiums is this small growing but spectacular species from Laos, Vietnam and Southern China. Dendrobium loddigesii is semi deciduous growing 10cm pseudobulbs in the summer which then drop some of their leaves in the winter. Flowers appear from last year’s bulbs in late spring. We find that this species needs a distinct […]

We have a diversity of Masdevallias flowering this week One of our most robust and reliable Masdevallias is this species from Ecuador. The large flowers are produced on short stems and are remarkable for the purple ‘hairs’ on the lip which give the species its name meaning the burred Masdevallia. The species is found at around […]

We had a fresh pallet of virgin cork bark from Portugal arrive today. Great for mounting orchids and a good way to support traditional cork harvesting and cork forest conservation. We will be selling cork at the Three Counties Show in June.