We know that autumn is here when our Stenoglottis start to flower. We have two species, Stenoglottis fimbriata that starts to flower in September and Stenoglottis longifolia (below and still in bud) that flowers about a month later. In Stenoglottis fimbriata the basal rosette of leaves are spotted in purple, unlike Stenoglottis longifolia that has […]

We have a bench filled with small plants of this wonderful orchid thanks to dividing our prize winning (Cultural Commendation from the RHS) specimen below. Coelogyne ovalis is a cool growing Coelogyne from South East Asia and the Eastern Himalayas. We have seen plants growing on the Bolevan plateau in Southern Laos at around 1200m […]

Our first public event at the school since 2019 will be next Monday evening from 4pm-7pm. Do come and join us for an evening of orchids, talks, tours and have a go sessions in our wonderful greenhouses and propagation laboratory. The event cost £2 entry and everyone will receive a free orchid seedling in a […]

Another plant that people found interesting on Saturday was Dracula bella. We have a number of Dracula species in the school collection but this is the plant with the largest and most dramatic flowers. The species is native to dense cloud forests in Colombia and Ecuador at altitudes from 1700-2000m. We have seen other draculas […]

A species that caused some interest at yesterday’s show was this small pleurothallis. The flowers of Pleurothallis hemirhoda are more than 5cm across and rather dwarf the leaves. The plant is found in wet forest from 500-2100m and so it is at home in Cool Americas.  The plant seems to flourish in deep shade and […]