To celebrate the start of the school holidays we have Encyclia polardiana from Mexico

The graceful branched spikes with long lasting flowers make Encyclia polardiana one of our favourite summer orchids.

This is a strong growing species, endemic to Mexico, found in open forests between 1000m and 1400m altitude. The species description gives the spike length as 30-60cm but our plant usually manages at least 1m and this year the two branched spikes are over 1m tall with a total of 200 flowers, each 3cm across.

The plant grows in a basket and seems to thrive in good light with heavy watering when in growth from now until November.

We are delighted to have germinated seed of this species from last year’s seed pods.