We are continuing our Vanda theme with our third Vanda species in a row.

Vanda coerulescens (meaning blueish Vanda) a charming miniature Vanda with really unusual purple and white, long lasting, flowers on very long flower spikes for the size of the plant.

Vanda coerulescens is native to dryish monsoon forests in the Western Himalayas (Arunachal Pradesh), Myanmar, Thailand and Southern China from around 300 to 1200m. This is a habitat that we know well and have seen in Arunachal Pradesh consisting of open, bright, forest with a distinct wet season in the monsoon summer. Orchids here grow without any moss around their roots and we find that the species does best mounted on cork bark, where it can really dry out between daily waterings. Plants grow new leaves and roots in the summer and do very little during the winter before sending out the fast growing flower spikes, and flowers, each April.