Sixth form student James has worked really hard to prepare things for the British Orchid Show and he has been in charge of wristbands. He is delighted that they have arrived. Wrist bands will help us to manage the large number of people coming to the show and pre-booked for all the different registration options.

If anyone is wondering what colour their wrist band will be, here are James’ notes:

So registrants will have red bands giving them access to show days, preview evening, scientific lectures on Saturday (Science and Conservation) and scientific lectures Sunday (Hardy Orchid Day)

If you have just booked for one of the scientific lecture days then your bands give access to the show too and day visitors will have their own bands too.

All those who have preregistered will find their wristbands in their registrants bag on arrival.

If you still haven’t registered please visit https://wsbeorchids.org/bos2018/ for full ticket details and registration. If you are just coming for the day on Saturday or Sunday you can buy your ticket (and get your wristband) on the day.

On Friday we gave you Cattleya maxima and I refered to the ‘coerulea’ variety we have today. Coerulea means blue but in this case the flowers are a very pale grey version of blue but despite this they are elegant large flowers with the delicate shape and intricate lip characteristic of Cattleya maxima.

Here is a reminder of the more normal variety

The two plants out together show the wonderful diversity present in so many orchid species and we would not be without either.

Rather excitingly we have seed germinated of a cross between the two varieties and it will be lovely in about five years time to see how these turn out.

As we said on Friday, Cattleya maxima is native to South America from Venezuela down to Peru. It grows in forests from sea level up to 1500m and so is warm growing.

Another species at its peak in the autumn is Epigenium amplum.

This is a large growing and rather straggly species from the Himalayas that we have see in expeditions to Sikkim where it grows around the trunks of large trees forming enormous plants over time. We have found it growing in moist evergreen forests at around 1400m although it has been recorded from 500 to 2100m.

The large flowers are long lasting and although well spread out provide a great display on a large plant.

We find that baskets are the best way to grow the species and spray daily to ensure that the plan t gets sufficient water. As the plant grows the growths can eventually be trained round in a circle to give a denser specimen that is both easier to handle and provides more flower impact than one where the flowers are all at the ends of long growths. In the wild large plants encircle trees in mossy damp conditions and that is what we are trying to replicate in our greenhouse.

What an orchid! This is definitely one to look out for at the British Orchid Show (just two weeks away now from 2-4th Nov)

Cattleya maxima is one of the real stars of autumn in the school greenhouse with long lasting enormous flowers in heavy sprays from the relatively short pseudobulbs.

Cattleya maxima is native to South America from Venezuela down to Peru. It grows in forests from sea level up to 1500m making it an accommodating and straight forward species to grow. We find in enjoys baskets hung high in Warm Americas and keep it watered throughout the year.

We have this free flowering pink clone as well as the blue grey coerulea variety. We are delighted that the council chose this species to to put on the road sign welcoming drivers to the village of Writhlington – a tropical twist to the North Somerset Coalfield. The village of Writhlington is also famous for its coal mine – the last to close in Somerset and the coal tip which has provided remarkable fossils of giant dragonflies.

This stunning orchid species is native to the Philippines where it grows in damp evergreen forest  above 1200m altitude.

As I said earlier in the week this plant won Best in Show at the last British Orchid Congress in Norwich (Nov 2016) and now as a bigger plant will look an absolute treat when fully out in two weeks time for our own British orchid Congress and Show under the care of our fantastic Cool Asia team.

Flowers are produced from the centre of new growths every autumn and this year our large plant has 60 flower spikes with a total  of over 2000 flowers. The flowers have a strong and rather peculiar smell that remind me of overheated electrics.