We are looking forward to our drive up to Glasgow for this months Orchid Fair. We can squeeze in some monster orchid species for sale if anyone is interested in reserving them. Just send us a message on our ‘Contact us tab’ – first come first served, pay at the stand in Glasgow.

Lealia superbiens – a chance to buy an established division of our largest clone of this amazing species (3m spikes) £200

Specimen Trichotosia ferox – with growths up to 3m £100

Division of Sobralia xantholauca – 3m canes and giant flowers £90

Coelogyne multiflora – specimen £120

Sorry these plants can only be purchased at the Glasgow Orchid Fair

To follow yesterday’s Madagascan miniature orchid species we have this wonderful Brazilian miniature. Leptotes bicolor is a mass of flowers every April and a reminder of the remarkable orchids of the Mata Atlantica, Brazil.

Leptotes bicolor is one of the species we found during our expeditions to Brazil in 2000 and 2006. We observed it growing on a shady moss covered granite rock face in dryish forest at 900m altitude. We cultivate it in our Warm Americas section (minimum 150C) and mounted on bark where it is watered every day. We have found a semi shaded spot that replicates the species’ native cliff face habitat.

The leptotes is the white dots in the photo below on the shaded rock. Note also spanish moss growing on the tree and arboreal ants nests in the tree too.

The plant of Leptotes bicolor in our top photographs have been in the school greenhouse since 1994 when it arrived as a seedling mounted on the small piece of cork bark it still clings to. It has steadily grown into a stunning ball of small terete leaves and masses of white and pink flowers. It won a  Certificate of Cultural Commendation from the RHS Orchid Committee in 2018.

We grow a hundreds of wonderful miniature orchid species but amongst the most dramatic are members of the Angraecinae sub-tribe (or Angraecum family). Angraecinae includes 16 genera including Aerangis (Aerangis biloba below) and Angraecum, and almost all are native to Africa, Madagascar and nearby islands.

Although some Angraecum species are large plants, many are miniature plants with large flowers and todays species is a great example.

As you can see in the photo our Aerangis equitans is flowering in a 5.5cm pot with a 8cm leaf span and a flower almost as large as the plant. In common with most members of the Angraecinae the species is pollinated by Hawk Moths and so the flowers are white, strongly night scented and have a long spur for the nectar.

Angraecum equitans is a cool growing species from mossy mountain forests at around 2000m altitude and so the species is well suited to growing among our South American cloud forests species.

I always feel that our collection is incomplete any time that we don’t have prosthechea cochleata in flower. Plants flower pretty much throughout the year but our largest specimen is heading for peak flowering – hopefully to coincide with the Glasgow Botanic Gardens Orchid Fair (flier below)

Prosthechea cochleata never fails to take me to the lowand forests of Guatemala and a ridge overlooking Laguna Yaxha in Mayan Biosphere Reserve where I first found the species growing in the wild.

We have several different clones of this fascinating species and they flower at different times as well as lasting many months. The one above has smaller flowers and shorter stems and is its best in late spring and early summer. The plant below has larger flowers on longer stems and is more of an all year performer.

Orchid Project trips have seen the species in the wild both in Guatemala and Belize and so it is a species we know very well.

In Guatemala we found the species growing abundantly in the hot dryish forests around Yaxha and on plant in particular on the edge of the cliff overlooking the lake has provided a key to successful culture. The plant and its habitat are shown below.

The plant is growing near the ground on a live tree made horizontal by hurricanes and the position is open but shaded. There is some moss on the trunk showing that this spot is a little damper than most of the surrounding forest (probably due to morning mists condensing on the cliff edge) but most dramatic was the size of the plants root system. We recorded roots extending over 1.5m in either direction from the plant representing both considerable mass compared to the leaves and bulbs, and an extraordinarily effective moisture gathering system. This shows that although the plant comes from a dryish habitat it enjoys frequent watering in cultivation as our roots are no match for the wild ones. It is also very apparent that none of the wild plants we found had shrivelled bulbs.

In Belize the species (known locally as the Black Orchid) is the national flower and it was a pleasure to see it again on our visit to Belize in coastal forest along rivers and in large evergreen trees further inland.

The species is found across Central America, the Caribbean and into North America and this wide range has resulted in considerable variation within the species – a good excuse to grow several plants of this wonderful orchid. The range also extends away from the hot lowland forests and up to 1900m and so it is not fussy about temperature.

The species is pollinated by large butterflies that grab onto the protruding lower part of the lip (we like to call them butterfly handles) and then follow the radial lines with their proboscises to the nectar.

For the first day of April we have a joyous spring orchid.

This little species makes a wonderful floriferous plant in a 6cm pot (above) or a small basket (top).

Some plants seem to change their name more than others. We first purchased this species in the 1990’s as Pleurothallis tubata before changing it to Physosiphon tubatus to reflect changes in Pleurothallis, before changing it back to Pleurothallis tubata, then finally changing it to Stelis emarginata.

What ever its name it is a fantastic small growing orchid that does well in pots, mounted or in baskets, producing masses of small orange or yellow flowers that cover the plant. The leaves are stiff and rather spoon shaped, lasting many years and producing fresh flower spikes when ever the plant comes into bloom.

Stelis seems to fit it well but it is a tougher plant that many of the Stelis species we grow so a great addition to any collection. We grow it in Cool Americas where the orange clone flowers in April and the yellow clone flowers in May. It is native to central America and is found from 1800 to 3500m altitude indicating that it could grow cooler than we grow it.