Cattleya Jairak Cosmos

 

Cattleya Monte Elegante 'Hsin Pu'

 I photographed this orchid at this month meeting of the PR orchid judging center.  The plant was tall, had immaculate pseudobulbs and the inflorescence was held high over the foliage.  The head of flowers was quite eye catching, it was slightly fragrant.  The flowers were in perfect condition. 

Dendrobium purpureum Roxb. 1820

Phalaenopsis stuartiana Rchb.f. 1881

Seen in the 2017 Puerto Rico orchid society show.

Dendrobium Silver King

Maybe Acianthera cogniauxiana from Ecuador

Brassolaelia Morning Glory

A nice plant that grows very well in the hot climate of coastal Puerto Rico.  The flowers are variable in the extent of color and the venation from clone to clone.

Encyclia cordigera [HBK] Dressler 1964, a particularly fine flower

The flower of this plant is among the largest I have seen in a cordigera orchid.  The pseudobulbs are large and husky.  The plant is the property of a friend, he has cultivated it to perfection.  The plant was brought on a local vendor, but appears to be the product of a cross of superior plants.

Laeliocattleya White Spark 'Panda' a Cattleya hybrid that deviates from the norm.

An unusually shaped Cattleya tribe hybrid.  In Cattleya a flat presentation of petals and sepals is considered the most desirable configuration.  This plant is certainly not like that.  However the bright color and the curled frilly petals are very eye catching.  I like it.

Kirchara Jairak Kiss

Brassolaeliocattleya Rustic Spots

A variable and colorful hybrid that grows well in the hot coastal lowlands of Puerto Rico.  The plants show their Brassavola nodosa ancestry both in their plant and their flower form.   

Epidendrum schlechterianum Ames 1924

This species seems to offer no challenges to cultivate in Puerto Rico.  I have seen it growing well both in hot coastal lowlands and in the cooler mountainous interior.  It needs regular watering particularly when grown in the coast where wind and high temperatures dry up fern mounts comparatively quickly.  This orchid eventually covers its mount with a mass of growths.  I photographed this plant in the garden of one of my cousins.  As you can see he grows the plant in fairly high light which causes the new growths to develop a reddish tint.

Dendrobium Andree Millar (Dendrobium atroviolaceum x Dendrobium convolutum)

I photographed this one in the 2004 Mayaguez orchid show.  The flowers are fragrant and long lasting.  Grows and blooms well in Puerto Rico.

This is a Catasetum Jumbo hybrid, unfortunately I could not understand the second half the name in the tag.

This large and floriferous plant was shown in a local orchid show in September of 2004.  Unfortunately I have never seen it again to get the right name.

Dendrobium delacourii Guillaumin 1924, this is the first plant of this species that I have seen blooming in Puerto Rico

Many years ago I tried to grow this species.  In spite of my best efforts, it eventually left my garden for the great, happy, terracota pot in the sky.  I regarded it as a cool grower that would slowly shrivel and die if cultivated in the sweltering climate of coastal Puerto Rico.  But it is now clear that this plant will not only grow and thrive in the hot coastal lowlands of the island but also bloom.  My friend Karlo Javy allowed me to photograph the flowers of its plants.  The true Dendrobium delacourii is a miniature plant with canes that are quite small and measure only a few inches, between four and six.  There are other species with similar flowers but in those, the canes are larger than those of delacourii.  This orchid is in a garden in the very heart of the metropolitan area of San Juan, the capital of the Island of Puerto Rico.  The coastal lowlands of Puerto Rico can get pretty hot, with temperatures reaching into the high nineties.  On windless days it can feel as if the whole island had been dropped into an oven.  But this plant is doing well and has bloomed repeatedly.

I find the flowers of this orchid particularly interesting due to their ciliate lip, a feature that is not common in the genus Dendrobium.  

Bulbophyllum cocoinum Bateman ex Lindl. 1837, will do well in hot coastal Puerto Rico, as long as it gets the proper humidity and care.

This African Bulbophyllum has a coconut fragrance.  This plant was cultivated by a friend it eventually turned into an specimen plant, it completely filled the basket with growths.

Dendrobium Roy Tokunaga

This Dendrobium grew well in my garden.  It bloomed reliably and the flowers were long lasting.

Cattleya intermedia Graham 1828, a plant in my garden.

Encyclia Borincana (Encyclia alata x Encyclia bractecens) how I grow it

This plant thrives tied to a piece of wood.  I grow it outside, it is hanging from the branches of a small shrub in my garden.  It only gets watered during the worst of the dry season, otherwise the local rainfall is enough for its needs.  Tree fern can also be used, but in this case I used the piece of teak wood because it was free.  The plant has been doing well mounted this way and has developed a healthy root system.

Encyclia cordigera [HBK] Dressler 1964, the typical form of the species, sometimes sold as a "semi alba"

In Puerto Rico, this species poses no challenge to cultivate.  It can tolerate drought and grows best if it gets a few hours of full sun every day.  Note that is its growing in a basket that hardly has any potting material.  The bane of this species is root loss due to overwatering.  I just doesn't tolerate media that remains wet.  I grow my plants high in the orchid house, just under the shade clothe where they get the brightest light.  Good fertilization while in active growth is the key to large pseudobulbs.