Summer is Stanhopea time in the greenhouse filling the air with their pungent fragrance and adding real interest for any visitors. Like all our Stanhopea species the Stanhopea graveolens produces on dramatic pendulous spikes of very large flowers. The flowers last for a few days but while they are out they are magnificent and once […]

Some students have recently noted that this species is a bit like a ghost with its pale flowers and drooping petals and of course it is evolved for the night and its Central American moth pollinators. Brassavola cuculata always takes me back to the lowland forests of Guatemala where I first saw it growing in […]

To follow Masdevallia wagneriana we have a second small sized masdevallia, Masdevallia burslaffiana. This species produces 1cm wide flowers in profusion, and with leaves just 5cm long makes a wonderful specimen when larger. The species is native to Mexico and Guatemala and research suggests it is variable in colour from yellow to red. Our culture […]

We have a wonderful diversity of Masdevallia species and many of them flower in the summer holidays ( a shame for a school project!) Masdevallis wagneriana  is a small growing masdevallia species with 5cm leaves that produces lots of relatively large flowers which contrast beautifully with the glossy dark green leaves. The species is endemic […]

This month I keep finding new prosthechea species to feature. Prothechea kautskyi is less flombouyant than many of the other prosthecheas flowering at the moment but is a charming little species. Unusually this species has more colour on the reverse of the flowers than on the front. Prosthechea kautskyi is native to Brazil where it […]