A stunning orchid just returned from its trip to the RHS Orchid Show is our wonderful specimen of Cymbidium devonianum.

This is our largest plant of Cymbidium devonianum and again has eight pendulous flower spikes of gorgeous green, brown and pink flowers.

Cymbidium devonianum produces dense pendulous spikes of dramatically coloured flowers and thanks to its unusual habit of flowering of older bulbs as well as last year’s bulbs produces spikes in profusion.

In Sikkim we have found this species growing in heavy shade, low in trees and usually in pockets of detritus and dead leaves that keeps the plant damp through the dry season. (photo below)

In cultivation we replicate the cool, wet shady conditions it enjoys and too much light or too little water results in brown tips to the thick leaves. We grow plants in baskets to allow the pendulous flower spikes to emerge and not become trapped in the bottom of a pot.

We have lots of seedlings in our lab of this lovely species and seedlings establishing out of flask too, we will be restocking the shop later today when we get a moment.

We are delighted to hear of the recent success of our partners in Sarawak.

Sarawak recently hosted the Inaugural Malaysian Conservation Conference 2022 and SARORSO (Our partners the Sarawak Orchid Society) was invited to set up a booth. They exhibited the Jumaani IVOM lab activities (from MRSM School Kuching).

Students from the project worked at the live lab display and attended the conference (making them the youngest participants). The Premier of Sarawak came quietly during the opening and he stopped by at the booth. He was impressed to note on the progress – well done MRSM Students and SARORSO.

A wonderful orchid that didn’t quite open in time for the RHS Orchid show is this amazing Schomburgkia species.

Schomburgkia is a genus related to Cattleya, and includes a number of large growing plants with impressive spikes of unusual flowers. Schomburgkia splendida is native to Ecuador and Colombia where it grows on trees and rocks in dryish forests around 600- 1000m. The unusually twisted flowers are produced in a starburst at the end of the spike and really demand close inspection. From a distance the brown flowers look to be old, dried up and dead, and one wonders whether this is an adaptation to avoid being eaten by grazing animals.

We grow the species in open compost in a basket high in our Warm Americas section where it experiences a suitably warm and bright environment.

We arrived home from the RHS Orchid Show on Sunday evening to find that the buds had just opened – fortunate really as we couldn’t have fitted another tiny plant in the van, let alone a giant orchid like this lovely schomburgkia.

We love the diversity of orchid flowers and Bulbophyllum lemniscatoides is one of our most bizarre species. Bulbophyllum lemniscatoides is a small growing Bulbophyllum with a remarkable flower spike consisting of many small black flowers which each produce three thin dangly tassels which are attached to the end of each sepal and sway too and fro in the slightest breeze. As you can see we have one clone with lilac tasles and one where they are dark purple.

This species is notable as one of our most exciting finds in the wild. On our last expedition to Laos we were trekking to one of the famous waterfalls of the Bolevan Plateau when our attention was taken by a ‘fluffy dangly thing’ just above our heads. It turned out to be two flowering spikes of Bulbophyllum lemniscatoides coming from leafless pseudobulbs. (photos below)

 The find was all the more exciting as the species is the cover photo for the book we had been using all trip ‘Orchid Genera of Thailand,Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

The habitat of the species was humid evergreen forest near a river at about 1000m (see photo below) and so the plant is best suited to growing in our Warm Asia section although it benefits from a cooler dry winter period in the roof of Cool Americas along with a number of our Asian species. If you are going to southern Laos in the near future I can tell you where to look.

We grow the species high in our Warm Asia section and mounted so that it gets good drainage (the plants in the wild were on bare bark with no moss) and the newest bulb drops its two leaves in December before sending our the thin upright flower spike.

For those keen to explore our display at Wisley there are lots of smaller orchids on display and one of them is this Australian species.

Sarcochilus equalis comes from New South Wales where it is known as the boulder orchid. This is due to its preferred habitat being rocks, boulders and cliff faces in forested areas where it is found from 400m to 1400m altitude.

It is a cool growing species that produces a mass of roots. Flower stems come  from the mass of growths that develop over time.