I am delighted to say that this interesting orchid is really flourishing and producing multiple flower spikes.

Some of our orchids are compact and convenient to grow others are not. These very attractive flowers belong to one of our more challenging Brazilian species.

This relative of Oncidium grows 3cm pseudobulbs separated by 15cm of vertical rhizome and so rapidly climb up from any basket or support they are given. I am sure this is a useful habit when you grow as an epiphyte in the coastal cloud forests of Brazil where plants presumably clamber their way up through the canopy to get access to more light and attract pollinators. However, in a greenhouse we are always playing catch up and keep up with the plant.

Three years ago we took drastic steps to find a better growing arrangement for the species and tried the large basket shown where we encourage the plant to grow in more of a ball around the basket and it seems to be succeeding. Definitely a plant to watch over the next few years.

Look out for more details later today about how our virtual orchid festival on Dec 3rd and click and collect on Dec 5th will work – a chance to buy some of our plants that are too big to post 🙂