Vanda Kultana Red x Vanda Lena Kamolphan,

This plant was exhibited at the 2016 Puerto Rico orchid society show in the Jardin Botanico de Rio Piedras.  I was impressed by the large size of this Vanda hybrid as well as by its bright color.  The plant was set low and to the side of the exhibit, among many other plants which didn't allow for a good photo of the inflorescence.   

Cattleya Madeleine Knowlton ‘Harvest Moon’ a large white Cattleya hybrid

I saw this plant on the Orchid Festival of the Mayaguez orchid society.     Very nice color and shape.  However I must confess I am prejudiced, I still like the trumpet lips of the white Cattleyas of yesteryear.  

Vanda sanderiana var. alba

An impressive plant of Vanda sanderiana var. alba.  Unfortunately I could not take a photo that would make justice to the beauty of this plant due to the way it was oriented on the exhibit.

Blc. Dr. Joe Walker 'Ray Mishima'

I was drawn to this orchid because the bold contrast between the white sepals and petals and the lip in quite eye catching.  This flower is big, perhaps six inches across although the curling back of the petals  make it look stockier.  Seen at the 2012 Mayaguez Orchid society annual show.

Laeliocattleya Drumbeat 'Heritage' HCC/AOS a stunning 'classical Cattleya'

A particularly nice blooming with three large, very symetrical flowers.

 When most people talk about orchids, the one that is in their mind’s eye is the classical large lavender hybrid Cattleya.  This image is so culturally ingrained that even people that have only the slightest knowledge about orchids will instantly recognize the type.   Even in the orchid world, where people will often ignore large flowered hybrids to fuss a coo around a rare tiny flowered species,  Cattleya still hold their ground as a sort of cultural compass . “ Grow it like a Cattleya” is an advice that is so common as to be in the same level as “tastes like chicken”.

Back in the nineties my collection of orchids was composed mostly of species (as it still is) and I had only a few small flowered Cattleya species .  I started looking for a large flowered Cattleya because I wanted the kind of orchid that my mother, who was not particularly interested in “botanical” orchids (the smaller and weirder types which “only a botanist would love”), would enjoy.  After doing some research on lavender Cattleya I decided that the one that seemed the best option was Lc. Drumbeat ‘Heritage’.  This plant has large flowers with an excellent shape and I was sure it would grow well under my climatic conditions.  To me Lc. Drumbeat ‘Heritage’ embodies the best characteristics that people associate with a classical lavender Cattleya.

I brought it from Housermann’s Orchids as a relatively large plant as I didn’t want to wait years for it to bloom.   Having learned, from bitter experience, that potting Cattleya in bark in plastic pots was a recipe for disaster under my local conditions, I potted it in a wire basket I made myself.  The basket was filled with stones and a few of the the hardest pieces of wood I could find.  The key feature of this arrangement was that the plant’s roots would have a very well aireated mix that would drain quickly and would not have, even under the wettest conditions imaginable, pockets where the air would not reach.  This is an important item as Cattleya roots need to breathe and decay quickly under anaerobic conditions.

The orchid grew vigorously right from the start and bloomed very well.  Since then it has bloomed every year for the last thirteen years, an impressive record considering that it has had its up and downs.  Since the leaves can grow quite large, this is not a plant for growers with limited space.  I fertilize this plant only when it is producing new growths, the rest of the year it gets plain water.  It is very important to fertilize appropriately when this plant is growing, the quality of the flowers is mightily influenced by the size of the mature pseudobulb.

But getting a good display of flowers from this plant is a bit tricky as you have to find the right combination of sun, watering and fertilizing that will bring out the best results under your own conditions.  My plant produces the largest flowers when it is under strong light with a fair bit of direct sunlight in the morning.   I have my plant in a spot where it gets the strongest light it can tolerate short of getting sunburned.  This has the unfortunate result that the leaves look yellowish and might have a spot of sunburn of two.  But the resultant flowers are so impressive that few people look at the leaves.

The best combination of size, color and presentation occurs when the plant is under conditions where it produces three flowers.  My plant generally produces three flowers on each new pseudobulb but it has also occasionally produced two and four at a time.  When it produces two flowers at time they are typically of an enormous size, quite a bit larger than normal, but presentation suffers as the flowers tend to be crowded and particularly the very large size of the petals means the flower are pressed closely together and don’t look their best.  Perhaps if I would take the time to gently and carefully separate the blooms so that they are far enough apart so that they can unfold fully without bumping into each other the flowers would much look better.  When it has produced four flowers the flowers are undersized and the fourth flower, at the tip of the inflorescence is much smaller than the others and sometimes misshapen and oddly colored.  The first time this happened I was dismayed and feared that the plant had become virused.  But when the plant bloomed again the next year the flowers were totally normal.

When this plant starts its growing season, I give it a high nitrogen fertilizer diluted according to the instructions on the label.  I pay close attention to the new growth as it is most vulnerable to damage when it is still young.  I water the plant every two to five days when it is in full growth depending on how dry the mix is, because my plants are outside and get drenched every time it rains (which can be every afternoon at the height of summer) sometimes I don’t need to give them supplemental watering for months. 

The most critical time, in my view, is when this orchid is developing its roots.  Root loss has been my bane when dealing with Cattleya, they tolerate wetness, drought and sundry pests, but if they lose their roots bringing them back is an uphill battle and the plant health deteriorates significantly.  So when the roots are developing I am extremely vigilant in regard to snails and slugs and will use, with the proper precautions, the various ways that are in the market to send slugs and snails to the great and happy lettuce leaf in the sky.

Another thing to watch for is the various insects that attack the leaves.  White flies can be persistent but they are very easy to control.  I keep a small spray bottle of rubbing alcohol and whenever I spot a some white flies trying to establish a colony a few spritzes take care of the situation in seconds.  Scale insects are more devious and harder to control, the key here is to eradicate them when they are few in number.  I carefully rub them off the plant taking care not to damage the leaf.  A bit of rubbing alcohol helps finish the deed.  Every month I take some time to check over the plants.  This is a practice that will go far in keeping your plants pest free, or as pest free as you can get if you grow them outside like I do.

I can’t give repotting advice on this plant for the simple reason that I have never repotted it.  It is still growing in the same basket where I planted it sixteen years ago.  It has gone across it and around it several times.  The original organic material in the mix decayed completely many years ago.  The plant is now growing in a mass that is composed of the remains of old roots and the rocks, which are still there but totally covered with mosses and old and new roots.

This orchid has been meristemmed and seedlings are available in many places, at times at surprisingly affordable prices.  One thing about this plant that is seldom commented upon is its fragrance.  It is the typical sweet Cattleya fragrance and I really enjoy it.  I have the impression that the flowers are particularly fragrant in the middle to late morning.  If you are looking for a lavender Cattleya and have ample space available, Lc. Drumbeat is one of the best alternatives. 

In the photos below, first photo:  A two flowered inflorescence, note the particularly large size of the petals, second photo;  A three flowered inflorescence with narrow petals.   Third photo; A four flowered inflorescence (see text) showing the somewhat oddly shaped flower with streaks of color reminiscent of virus symptoms.

A white Maxillaria especies from the Quito Botanical Gardens

This large flowered Maxillaria has white flowers with a yellow lip.   The plant is growing at the side of the trail that is inside the orchid house.   It is a huge specimen several feet wide.  The flowers are quite showy but since the plant is planted at ground level you have to get on hands and knees to really appreciate their beauty.  Once you are level with the plant it becomes apparent that there are a number of flowers that are hidden among the leaves of the plant.  This orchid is among the most beautiful Maxillaria I have seen but the sheer size of the plant doesn’t recommend it much to greenhouse or windowsill growers.  Most of the flowers were pure white but there was a single one that had a red tint on the sepals.  It looked pretty much identical to the white ones except for the touch of color.   

Grammatophyllum Tiger Paw, a hybrid of Gramm. elegans and Gramm. fenzlianum

The flower of my plant is unusually full, until recently
 most Tiger Paw sold had spindly flower segments

An inflorescence showing the flower arrangement

A photo using full sunglight, the upper sepal has been reflexed from its natural position

The red toucan key chain serves to give a scale to these inflorescences

The plant stayed in this pot until it was ready to bloom

The mature plant in its new plastic pot.  Note that a relatively small plant is producing three inflorescences

I brought my plant of Grammatophyllum Tiger Paw at a show in Ponce about ten years ago.  The plant was quite tiny with finger sized pseudobulbs but I decide to take a chance on it.  The orchid was planted in a tall plastic pot made from a soda pot bottle.  This plant grew well but relatively slow, the pseudobulbs grew in size but not too much from year to year.  Because it was so small when I purchased it the plant took about five years to reach blooming size, however it has never stopped blooming since that date.  

I find this hybrid is more forgiving of lapses in its care than the elegans parent.  However as in all the Grammatophyllums I have, blooming is mostly determined by how well the plant was cared for when the pseudobulbs were growing.  When I have helped the plant produce large fat pseudobulbs then blooming is all but assured, spindly and skinny pseudobulbs don’t bloom.  My Tiger Paw blooms more reliably than my elegans.

One curious thing my plant has is that its root basket is much smaller than what one would expect given its parents both of which can produce sizeable root masses.  The flowers of my Gramm. Tiger Paw are quite round, this used to be a rare thing in the Tiger Paw hybrids that were available locally but lately plants with nice round flowers are becoming more common. 

An unexpected thing is tha the inflorescences of my plant are smaller that those of either parent that I have seen locally, maybe it's parents were selected from plants with shorter inflorescences.  Its cultural needs are exactly like those of elegans.  This orchid seems much more vulnerable to snail and slug damage in its pseudobulbs than elegans and I have found holes eaten in their pseudobulbs made by snails, something that I have never seen either on elegans or scriptum.

Enormous numbers of this plant, of several varieties of scriptum, and other related Grammatophyllums have been put for sale in the last few years at most orchid shows I have attended in the island.  But apparently their survival locally is poor.  My suspicion is that they are killed when people try to confine their massive root systems to unventilated pots producing inevitable root loss and the death of the plant.

Grammatophyllum elegans a delightful representative of this genus that doesn't need a gigantic space to grow and bloom

This is the normal flower of the species

An incomplete flower, the first few flowers to open
 at the base of the inflorescence tend to be this way

An inflorescence that has been allowed to grow in a pendulous manner

A mass of pseudobulbs showing a very modestly sized root basket

A mature plant blooming, the inflorescence has been trained horizontally
 for better display.  Notice the heftly log needed to keep
 the plant upright against the weight of the inflorescence.

Grammatophyllum Tiger Paw a hybrid (elegans x scriptum) 
just after its removal from a plastic pot

The tree fern plaque in which Gramm. elegans grew originally, notice the 
large ferns and begonias and sundry plants growing on the plaque.

I brought this plant as a seedling around 1990, I think I brought it from H&R orchids in Hawaii.  Following the recommendations of other orchid growers and from seeing plants in orchid shows, I planted mine in a slab of tree fern.  The plant thrived and by 1993 it was flowering.  But them the plant started to decline.  At first I was puzzled because there had been no significant change in any parameter relating to the care of the plant and it had not been attacked by any pest.  But then I noticed that the fern plaque was becoming harder and harder to keep clean of ferns, begonias, and other assorted plants that would grow with wanton abandon anytime I became careless in weeding them out.  The reason for the decline became clear when I noticed that the base of the root basket these plants make had died and was decaying.  It turned out that the fern plaque, as it decayed, was holding too much water.  This meant that the root mass of the Grammatophyllum would never dry at the base; this meant death for the active roots and accelerated decay for the dead ones.

In the end, my formerly large plant, became three clusters of sorry looking pseudobulbs with few live roots.  I decided to try something different with this species.  I potted the plants in plastic pots that had a small reservoir of water at the bottom.  The pot was filled with rocks, Styrofoam and bark pieces.  The plants were tied on top of the pots because they had few living roots to anchor them in the media.  With time the little plants sent their roots into the pots and then began producing their characteristic root basket.  I repotted these plants in 1994 and they are still in the original plastic pots.  However, at the same time they are not in the pots at all, what happened was that as the plants grew in size they produced a large root basket and as pseudobulbs grew upward the living roots essentially abandoned the pot and grew into the mass of the root basket composed of the previous year root growth.  Nowadays the plants are still attached to the plastic pots by their massive root mass but the living roots are all independent of the pot.  I have not removed the pots because they are a convenient counterweight when the plants produce their massive inflorescence.

If there is any advice that I consider most important in the care and culture of this plant is that you should strive to keep the root basket that these plants naturally produce around their pseudobulbs in a good state.  This means that you should allow the root basket to dry between waterings to avoid killing the roots.  If the root basket decays  this can cause a severe setback for your plant.  Actually the key is allowing the best possible drainage and plenty of air flow around the root mass as it is not excess water that kills the roots but lack of oxygen.

This plant can produce an impressively large, massive inflorescence that can seem at odds with the size of the plant.  I recommend this orchid to those that don’t have space to grow Grammatophyllum speciosum but can accommodate a smaller plant.  So far Gram. elegans has proved to be relatively easy to care as long as you respect its need to have exposed roots that are not kept wet all the time.

Unlike Gramm. speciosum, Gramm. elegans doesn’t take a decade to grow to blooming size, its blooming seems to be controlled by the size of the last mature pseudobulb.  It has been my experience that large pseudobulbs that are at least four or more inches tall will bloom, smaller ones won’t.  The larger the size of the pseudobulbs of a given plant the more spectacular the inflorescence.  A relatively small plant with pseudobulbs five or six inches tall can produce an inflorescence five or six feet tall with dozens of large flowers.   Inflorescences can grow to such size and weight that they can destabilize the plant so care is needed to fasten the pot of the plant firmly to its basket or base.  Inflorescences can be staked or allowed to grow in a pendulous manner.  I have both trained inflorescences upright and allowed them to hang naturally and I personally prefer the trained ones.  The only significant problem when this plant is blooming is the need to keep the inflorescence safe from snail and slugs which seem capable of sensing the tender tip of the inflorescence from afar.

Media: Any material that resists decay, after the root basket formed, none.

Potting: First on well drained plastic pots, then on a very strong metal basket.

Fertilizing: 20-20-20 every week during the growing season. When it has a root basket of a significant size I put a few pieces of very dry horse manure on top of the root mass at the start of the growing season and keep replacing them as they degrade and are washed away by the rain.  Feeding this plant conscientiously during its growing season is the key for producing the large pseudobulbs that are the key to blooming this species.

Light: Full morning sun, light shade after midday, It gets this regime because it is what is available on the only spot that I had to put this plant.

Temperature: From 95F high during the day in summer to 60F during the night in winter.