Today’s Sobralia is even bigger than yesterday’s Sobralia macrantha with caned up to 3m long.

The species is native to Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia, where it grows as a terrestrial or epiphyte, produces its thin canes about 3m long, and in late spring these large (15cm across) flowers that last about two days. This is a lot of leaves and stems for a couple of days flowers but we are really fond of the species as it has a dramatic splendour all of its own. Each stem will produce a two or three flowers successively over five or six weeks, so actually the flowering period is well over a month.

We grow the species in large pots in our Warm Americas section with a minimum of 15C and good light and we spray the plant daily.

We divided our giant plant during lockdown and we will have plants for sale at shows including the Devon Orchid Show on 7th May. The show is in Budleigh Salterton from 10.30am to 4pm and always a good day out by the sea – do join us.