Another species that generated a lot of excitement at Saturday’s show was this unusual Pleurothallis species. It is native to wet montane forest in Costa Rica and Panama from 1200 to 1800m altitude.We grow it with most of our Pleurothallids in Cool Americas and keep it damp all year. The very hairy little flowers remind us of furry toilets with the lid half open but this seems a little harsh on such a sweet thing.

This is a small growing dendrobium species that out of flower looks like a larger version on Dendrobium jenkinsii (day 123) but its 6cm bulbs produce long spikes of large flowers and give a dramatic display. As you can see below our relatively small plant (deflasked in about 2010) has three lovely spikes.

The species is found over a wide range from Assam through South East Asia and we have seen it growing in Loas near Luang Prabang near the Mekong river at around 700m growing in seasonally dry evergreen forest. The plants most common in the lower branches.

Like other members of Dendobium secion densiflorum (That is the species Densiflorum, Thyrsiflorum and Jenkinsii) we find the species does best with a warm wet summer in Warm Asia and then a dryish cooler winter and for Dendrobium lindleyi we prefer the roof of Cool Americas.

Todays orchid of the day is an easy choice – yesterday’s best in show, Bulbophyllum eberhardtii. The species comes from South East Asia and is found from 1000m to 1500m altitude indicating a species that will enjoy intetmediate temperatures. We find that it does very well in either Warm Asia, Warm Americas or Cool Americas, so a minimum anywhere from 12C to 18C making it a very adaptable plant. With us the warmer growing plants flower first but it is easier to manage a little cooler as it seems to enjoy being damp and we water the plant throughout the year. We find that small plants enjoy the extra moisture given by a pot but larger plants do best in a basket as the long rhizome results in a plant leaving its pot and rooting in one nearby.

Over time specimen plants will form a lose ball especially if straggly bits are tied in and that is how we have managed our winning plant (below)

We grow this plant hanging uo in its basket but like to display it resting in a tray of moss as the flowers are best when looked down on. This plant has been in its basket since about 1998.

Our plants have won several awards at the Devon Orchid Show today including Bulbophyllum eberhardtii shown here which won Best in Show, Best Species and Best any other species.

The plant is a real specimen with 19 flowering spikes and 7 more in bud. Each flower spike has 15 flowers so that is around 300 flowers. Each smells of fresh fish.

Other awards where best dendrobium for Dendrobium victoria regina, Best Cymbidium for Cymbidium finlaysonianum, Best Pahalenopsis for Phalaenopsis parishii, Best Miniature for Macroclinium chasei, and merit awards for Cymbidiumtigrinum, Dendrobium aphyllum, Dendrobium fimbriatum, Coelogyne nitida, Cochlioda noezliana and Phalaenopsis manii.

Today we are having a great time at the Devon Orchid Show.

The display was designed and built by Ben and Joe and is full of great plants thanks to the growers back at school.

Thanks to the organisers for a great day. News on judging soon.