Sarawak is home to many orchid species we know including several Phalaenopsis species including the tiny flowered Phalaenopsis deliciosa that is flowering in our greenhouse this week. This is a species that we have seen growing in Sikkim, where we found it growing in hot valleys in seasonally dry forests where it lives in shade […]

Bee orchids may be hard to find on Cley Hill this year but the colony that Agnes found last year in Asham woods is doing really well. Plants are growing in an area where all the soil was cleared in preparation for quarrying about 25 years ago. The area is now dominated by silver birch […]

Tallis, Chloe and Jess have been working hard for the past two weeks to prepare for our first trip to Sarawak in July (We fly out on July 14th). We have worked with our partners in Kuching to order everything for the new propagation lab at MRSM School and today we have been sorting out […]

This gorgeous large flowered bulbophyllum arrived in a donation collection a few years ago and has responded well to growing damp and shaded in our Warm Asia section.  Bulbophyllum sumatranum is found  from Thailand through Malaysia to Sumatra, where it grows in wet forests from 900-1500m. The species was relatively recently separated from Bulbophyllum lobbii, […]

Amongst the techniques we will be sharing with school students in Sarawak in our forthcoming trips (July and October) will be seed viability testing using TZ (2,3,5-Triphenyltetrazolium chloride). Otto demonstrates the first stage – mixing orchid seed with 10% sucrose in a 1.5ml micro-tube. The tube then sits at room temperature for 24 hours. Everyone […]