Yesterday evening I realised that I hadn’t photographed an orchid for today and so took this flash photo (which doesn’t do the species justice) of the beautiful Stelis reginae.

Stelis reginae is one of our larger growing Stelis species with leaves 15cm long and 25cm flower spikes of large (for a stelis) flowers.

Stelis reginae is endemic to Ecuador where it is found in wet cloud forest at 1800m. We therefore grow the species cool and wet all year. It  has flowers with a very attractive pink edging against the cream ground colour and our large specimen flowers for many months over the summer and autumn.

We find that growing specimen plants of Stelis or Pleurothallis is easier in baskets than pots as the compost says in good condition for longer and the plants can form a natural ball rather than growing out of their pot.