With Christmas nearly upon us I thought I would find something in Christmas colours – The red flowers of Pleurothallis restrepiodes are more akin to the colour of mulled wine than Santa’s outfit but this orchid is definitely a seasonal favourite.

This large growing Pleurothallis produces masses of large flowers every winter and early spring. We find the species very easy to grow and flower as it is happy with temperatures down to 5C (in our temperate section) as well as warmer temperatures in Cool Americas.

We keep plants watered all year and propagate plants from the strong keikis that are produced on top of older leaves. The plant is a very strong rooter and shows all the characteristics of a really tough plant. We even found ice on its stems back in our old greenhouse one night when the boiler failed – but the plant carried on regardless.

Plants make great specimens with lots of spikes but also flower as young plants.

The species is native to cool forests in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.