England enters a new full lockdown today but our orchids seem oblivious and rather than hiding away are flamboyantly showing off their flowers – a real tonic in tough times. Saying that, todays orchid is grown more for its attractive leaves than its flowers. Most of the orchids we grow at school are epiphytes (grow […]

We have another Cattleya today but unlike yesterday’s miniature Cattleya percivaliana is a large and flamboyant species Many of the uni-foliate (one leaved) Cattleya species look superficially similar but we find that one of the clearest distinctions is flowering time, and this species always flowers at the turning of the year. C. percivaliana is also […]

I promised a giant flowered orchid for today and couldn’t resist Cattleya wittigiana whose flower today is only 6cm across but the flower dwarfs the rest of the plant – so definitely a ‘giant flower’. This species is very closely related to the more commonly seen Cattleya coccinea,  but is pink rather than red. Both […]

The first week of a new year finds the greenhouse brimming with orchids in flower, and it is the diversity of flowers that we find so exciting. So I promise a diverse week of orchids with this little jewel to follow yesterday’s stately Dendrobium. Platystele consorbrina is a very special orchid with the most beautiful […]

I am up early to check the greenhouse with temperatures well below freezing. In these conditions the heating is working hard and thus dries plants out quickly so don’t forget to water well. In fact we water as much in very cold weather as we do in hot summer weather. (Remembering that some plants are […]