This magnificent orchid is dominating our Warm Asia section this week. Our largest plant of Dendrobium thyrsiflorum is more than 2m across (see Otto for scale) and has 23 flower spikes each with around twenty lovely cream and orange/yellow flowers.

Can any orchid species compare with the wow factor of Dendrobium thyrsiflorum. We have different clones, one grows longer bulbs with longer thinner racemes of flowers while the second is stouter growing. When flowering really well the species is breathtaking.

This majestic species is native to Eastern Himalayas and South East Asia. We have seen it on school expeditions to Laos growing in the tops of tall trees in evergreen and semi deciduous forest at around 1000m where it experiences warm wet summers and a dryer cooler winter.

To reflect the natural habitat we grow the species in Warm Asia during the summer but move it to cool Americas for the winter which encourages perfect flowering as you can see from the photos.