There is a new star orchid in the greenhouse this morning – Maxillaria triloris.

This is another of the orchids featuring in the BBC’s Green Planet and is the largest flowering of our Maxillarias. The buds are dramnatic as well as the flowers so it should be fantastic in time lapse.

Maxillaria triloris is a native of South America (it is South America Week) and found from Venezuela to Ecuador as an epiphyte in wet forest from 800-1800m. Based on this data we have tried growing the species both warm and cool, and have found that it most enjoys the conditions of cool damp and shade in Cool Americas.

We grow the species it in an open basket but with heavy watering all year. We do move it onto a shelf when in flower so that the flowers stay in pristine condition away from drips and expect it to greet us as we enter the greenhouse every day for the next month. This a reliable cool growing species that gives us not trouble.

Another charming orchid species to go alongsode yesterday’s Pleurothallis amporoana is Gomesa crispa. A species we found growing abundantly as a pioneer epiphyte in Brazilian re-growth forest.

I first came across this species in the forests around Macae de Cima in our school expeditions in 2000 and 2005. Gomesa crispa is a pioneer species, meaning that it is one of the first epiphytes to establish in regrowth forest. As soon as humidity is high enough for moss to grow at the base of the trunks of young trees, the plant will establish in this moss as a very low level epiphyte just 10cm off the ground. It also grows in more mature forest and in elfin forest on mountain ridges.

The flowers are a yellow/green colour but very attractively crisped (hence the name) and a healthy plant produces a very long spikes and usually two spikes from each bulb (see photo)

We have grown this species successfully in both Cool Americas and Warm Americas but we find it does best grown in Cool Americas which is similar to its natural habitat and enjoys growing in a small basket where it is a little dryer than some of the surrounding plants. The very extensive root system also reflects an ability to cope with dryer conditions.

The photo here from our 2005 trip to Brazil shows the natural habitat for the species in relatively open regrowth forest with young trees.

This little orchid has to be one of the most spectacular species we grow, and a real treat every summer when it flowers.

Pleurothallis amparoana is native to wet montane forest in Costa Rica and Panama from 1200 to 1800m altitude and is unusual in the extremely furry flowers. We grow the species with most of our Pleurothallids in Cool Americas and find it particularly enjoys a small basket where we can keep it damp all year but with good drainage.

The resemblance of the flowers to furry toilet seats has resulted in us all calling this the furry toilet orchid – what do you think?

Another of our Best in Class orchids at the Devon Show last weekend was this fragrant Lycaste aromatica.

Lycaste aromatica is native to Mexico and Central America where it grows as an epiphyte of lithophyte in semi-deciduous forest. It uses its powerful scent to attract euglossine bees (perfume gathering bees) and in common with many plants adopting this strategy has fairly short lived flowers (a couple of weeks).

The native habitat experiences a marked dry season and so the species drops all its leaves in December and remains leafless until April or May. We reduce watering to almost none while there are no leaves but in the summer once growth is underway we water heavily to support the rapidly growing lush leaves. We find that having a couple of shelves in the greenhouse especially for orchids with reduced  water is a very useful thing.

When handling Lycstae aromatica it is worth remembering that each pseudobulb is topped with two razor sharp spines left by the falling leaves.

The species enjoys our Warm Americas section with a winter minimum of 15C and from now on will need more and more water for the fast growing new growths.

Another rosette winner at the Devon Show was Aerides odorata, and visitors to the show really enjoyed it gorgeous fragrance.

This exquisite and delightfully fragrant species is another that we have come across in our orchid travels.

We have seen Aerides odorata in Borneo and the Himalayas showing the extensive natural range of the species. In Borneo we found the species flowering at the foot of Mount Pueh (below) where a pale yellow and pink form was growing on the trunks of trees in open forest,

and one of The highlights of the trek up Mount Singai was the a lovely white and yellow form of Aerides odorata(below) where plants were growing in shade amongst tall trees at 100m altitude. The first photo shows one of several flowering plants with the characteristic long curved spur.

In cultivation our plant enjoys our Warm Asia section (min 17C) with water year round but more in the summer. We have had our plant of Aerides odorata since 1996 and in the past 25 years it has grown to massive proportions. Aerides odorata ‘Writhlington’ has won two CCCs (Cultural Certificates from the RHS and must be one of Europe’s largest vandaceous plants at 2.5m high and 2m across.

Here it is at its peak.