Saturday was a brilliant day for greenhouse club.  We arrived at the zoo at 8am and set up a display of orchids, information boards and Luke’s winning Sikkim research, for the Zoo’s plant conservation and international biodiversity day. As the public arrived it was up to our team of twelve students to introduce people to […]

Dendrobium densiflorum flowering in SikkimI am often asked the question “which is your favourite orchid?” a question I always struggle to answer definitively. Howerver I can tell you what my favourite orchid is today – Dendrobium densiflorum. This stunning orchid is one I have had the pleasure of finding in the wild in the Sikkim […]

Having just returned from a two week trip to the Sikkim Himalaya I can’t help but notice the wonderful Himalayan orchids flowering in the Writhlington Orchid Project greenhouses. I feel that one of the best things about growing exotic plants in a greenhouse is the way it transports you to the world’s most exciting habitats.

May is here and the top tip from Writhlington is get out into the countryside and find yourself some British orchids to admire. At the moment you could find Early spider orchid like the one above flowering at Dancing Ledge in Dorset last weekend, Green Winged orchid and early purple orchid. (go to read more […]

One of the most popular tasks at Writhlington is pollinating plants to produce seed to use in the orchid laboratory. We produce most of our seed this way which means that we can be absolutely sure that seedlings are the correct species and keep photographs of the parent plants. The job of pollination goes the […]