Saturday, December 13, 2014

Dendrobium Burana Sunshine x Dendrobium discolor


The influence of Dendrobium discolor is unmistakable in this hybrid.  Unlike Den. discolor, this plant blooms in a relatively small plant.  I love the color and the ease of culture of this orchid.  I grow it outside, under saran shade cloth.  The local climate is hot, not warm, and during the dry season the plants experience much drier conditions than normal.  However this plant takes it all in stride and grows well without any special care.  It is in a terracota pot with very clean and hard bark.  It has been my experience that these orchids resent mightly any kind of media that stays soggy for a long time, this usually results in the loss of roots.

Epilaelia Snow Fantasy x Encyclia alata, the 2014 blooming




This is this plant second blooming in my garden.  The plant still have some way to go before it reaches full adult size.  The Epilaelia Snow Fantasy is a large plant. The Encyclia parent can vary in size, I have seen both small and some impressively sized plants and I had one that would produce up to a hundred flowers in a single inflorescence.  I expect this plant inflorescences to increase in size until the plant has three or four full size pseudobulbs in a row.  It is not clear to me how large the pseudobulbs of this orchid will eventually get.   The best thing about this plant is that the climate in my garden is very well suited to its seasonal growth pattern.