Dendrobium wardianum is a lovely species that usually flowers in April but has joined the early March flowering extravaganza we are experiencing at the moment.

Dendrobium wardianum is a pendulous plant with long psuedobulbs up to 100cm long. It comes from the Eastern Himalayas from Assam through to Vietnam where it is found from 1000 to 2000m and so experiences a monsoon climate with a warm wet summer and a cooler dryer winter. It is deciduous and needs a cooler dryer winter rest to lose its leaves from the previous year’s growth and then flower from the bare pseudobulb.

The flowers have that delightful dipped in pink ink tip to the petals and sepals as well as a lot of yellow in the lip which distinguishes it from the similar looking Dendrobium nobile. Dendrobium nobile also flowers of pseudobulbs produced two years ago not the most recent ones like this species. Dendrobium nobile and Dendrobium wardianum form the basis of a large group of hybrids.

We grow the plant in our Warm Asia section where it always produces the new growth before flowering so we don’t give a completely dry rest