looking around the greenhouse I realised that this species has been flowering for all of the past 12 months but hasn’t featured on 365 days – so today is the day. The species is native to Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela and Guyana at altitudes of 1300 to 3500 meters and I have seen it described as […]

  We know that spring is here when the spring flowering Cymbidiums start to open and the first of the bunch is Cy,bidium hookerianum. Cymbidium hookerianum is a fantastic charismatic species from the Himalayas and one we have seen growing and flowering in Sikkim. Cymbidium hookerianum is a really cool growing species and in Sikkim […]

Another fragrant orchid that impressed our visitors on Wednesday was the fragrant species (kind of sweet spicy) is from Central America. As with all gongoras, this species uses perfume as a reward for pollinating Euglossine Bees. The male bees collect perfume off the slippery flowers and use it to attract a mate. We find the […]

We have had a really exciting day in the greenhouse with our visiting class from St Dunstan’s School, Glastonbury. Orchid project students gave tours of the greenhouse and workshops in laboratory propagation, botany and conservation.    A highpoint of the visit for some students was smelling the unusual scent of this dramatic Bulbophyllum species. Bulbophyllum […]

We have a real stunner today, Angraecum sequipedale from Madagascar. The large star like flower opens slightly greenish and this will fade to a glowing creamy white in the next day or two. This species is commonly known as Darwin’s comet orchid reflecting the well known story of Darwin predicting that there must be a […]