Dendrobium Chaisri Gold, peloric mutant

I received this Dendrobium as a gift a long time ago.  It is not difficult to cultivate as long as it is grown on media that doesn't become soggy and kills its roots.  Prefers media that allows for plenty of air to reach the roots.  The flowers are long lasting.

Laelianthe (Schombocattleya) Cruzan Gold

This plant was brought to the April 10 meeting of the AOS judges in Ponce, Puerto Rico.  The plant is large and the flowers delightful.  This is a cross of Guariante aurantiaca and Laelia superbiens)

Lysudamuloa Red Jewel (Lycamerlycaste Geyser Gold x Angulocaste Red Jade}

This type of hybrid is not commonly seen in Puerto Rico.  The plants that were for sale sold out pretty quickly.  In my experience tropical Lycastes grow and bloom well in Puerto Rico.  However the larger flowered Lycaste species and hybrids are only grown by a few growers in the areas mountainous areas of PR where the climate is cooler and humid.   I It is a pleasant departure from the usual yellow color of the Lycastes that are commonly grown in PR.  I will be paying close attention to see how these plants fare under the care of local hobbysts.

Dendrobium Chaisiry Gold 'Montion'

One of my most beautiful Dendrobium but also one of the most vexing.  It grows slower than my other plants and needs particular care to do well.  It is very intolerant of stale media.

Ludisia discolor [Ker-Gawl.] A. Rich. 1825, a specimen plant

I saw this plant of Ludisia discolor in 2007 at a meeting of the Mayaguez Orchid Society.  It was a beautiful plant with many growing points.  This orchid is very easy to grow if you give it the humidity it needs.  My own plant grows very well with the same care I give my houseplants.  The flowers are a nice bonus.

Cattleya dowiana var. aurea, the second plant that has bloomed for me.

The flowers, when freshly opened

This Cattleya has a reputation for being difficult to grow and bloom.  In my personal experience I can attest this plant is indeed a bit finicky.  All the plants I have grown have reacted in different ways to my care.  My first plant grew well and bloomed, only to die from rot during the rainy season.  It rotted with such startling speed, there was nothing I could do to save it.  The second plant I adquired, has been growing slowly and indifferently for a number of years and has yet to produce a blooming size pseudobulb.  The third plant has been growing well and was the one that bloomed on its first fully adult size pseudobulb.  The plant has been grown under saran cloth, watered very thoroughly once a week and fertilized every week but only when it was producing new growths.  It is growing in a mix of medium bark and limestone.  The temperatures where this plant is being grown are 85F/30C during the day most of the year, and 75F/24C at night.  In winter temperatures dip slightly being 75F/24C day and 65F/18C at night in the coldest part of the year.

The flowers lasted in perfection for five days.  In the fifth day the oldest flower collapsed, the other two flowers became limp during the next two days.  This confirms this plant reputation for relatively short lived flowers for a Cattleya.  The fragrance of the flowers was quite powerful and to my senses resembled certain types of fragrant soaps.

My experience growing this plant makes me think that you might want to try plants from a variety of sources before giving up on this species, as different plants seem to differ in their tolerance of the various environmental and climatic conditions.  

In Puerto Rico flowering size plants of this species are not common in orchid collections, although it is not rare to see seedlings from time to time. I have noted that it is rarely exhibited, althought this might have more to do with the flowers being short lived rather than with how common the plant is under cultivation

The flowers, just before they started collapsing, note that they look yellower

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Cyrtochilum serratum an orchid from Ecuador

I first saw this orchid in a greenhouse in Quito Botanical Gardens.  But later I saw it growing in cultivation near Centro del Mundo and in Mindo.  The plant seems to be a vigorous grower and all the plants I saw had inflorescences.  The fact that I saw no seedlings anywhere I went makes me think that the plants were taken from the wild and planted in the places where I saw them.  All the plants I saw were adults.  The inflorescences are very long. I saw one that was about nine feet long and had several short branches along its lenght.  The flowers seem to be produced continuously along the inflorescence, all the inflorescences I saw had only a few flowers on them, near the tip of the inflorescence.  I saw a plant tied to a bamboo pole about eight feet up from the ground, its inflorescence had been trained along the lenght of the bamboo pole so that people could enjoy the flowers at eye level.  This plant is a cool grower from the Andes where it grows at elevation that can surpass the 9,000 feet.  This means that it is wholly unsuited for cultivation at sea level in hot locales.  It comes from western Ecuador and Peru.