I mentioned on Sunday that we have lots of Australian dendrobiums and today we have another. These stunning plants will be some of our feature plants at the RHS Orchid Show at the end of next week, and with this week’s sunny days the greenhouse and filled with the heady fragrance of Dendrobium delicatum’s massed flowers.

Dendrobium delicatum is a natural hybrid between two Australian species, that have already featured in 365 days, Dendrobium speciosum and Dendrobium kingianum . With the variable nature of the parent species it is not a surprise that Dendrobium delicatum is highly variable too.

The top plant is our clone ‘pink blush’ but we have other clones that are white and cream but all are very fragrant. The plants are variable too but generally have long pseudobulbs (up to 40cm long) which are much thinner than those on Dendrobium speciosum.

The plant makes a great specimen as it gets older and the top photo shows ‘pink blush’ over 1m across.

We grow plants in our Cool Asia section (min 10C) and in our Temperate section (min 6C) so this is a cool growing species although plants that have found their way into other sections of the greenhouse also flourish. We keep plant well watered in the summer when in growth but a bit dryer in the winter and spring especially when in flower.