Dendrobium distichum [Presley]Rchb.f 1877, an orchid with waxy, tiny flowers

The plant form of this Dendrobium is interesting by itself.  The flowers, produced at the tip of the canes are very small for a Dendrobium.  You need a magnifying glass to fully appreciate the waxy flowers of this plant.

Dendrobium spectabile (Blume) Miq. 1859, an orchid with contorted, otherworldly flowers

The flowers of Dendrobium spectabile have a strange otherworld appareance due to their highly contorted floral parts.  The orientation and twisting of the florarl parts can vary wildly even in the same inflorescences.   The color of the flowers can vary from plant to plant, some are more yellow and some are more purple.  The flowers in the inflorescence can look down, up or sidewise.  In my own plant the flowers, no matter the direction in which their petals are twisted, have their lips pointing downwards, this means that many flowers have sidewise oriented lips.  The texture of the flowers can also vary, my own plant has flowers moderately good substance but some clones that I have seen in exhibitions have flowers which have a leathery texture.

The inflorescences can also vary in the way they show the flowers.  In my plant the flowers are separated by enough space that you can appreciate each one individually.  But some plants I have seen in exhibitions have their flowers all bunched in a ball like inflorescence in which all the flowers are crowded together with their floral parts overlaping each other in an untidy mass.

This plant is well worth growing but it seems individual plants vary in their frequency of blooming.  Some seem to be shy blooming, while others, like my plant, bloom like clockwork each year and sometimes two times in a season.  My only complaint is that the sideshoots my plant has produced have never kept  growing, so after 9 years in my garden my plant still has only a single growing point.

A peculiar Phalaenopsis: Phal. Center Stage 'Pine Ridge Cockleshell' AM/AOS, a rare stable peloric form

This is a very peculiar flower.  This orchid petals are unique in what only can be described as a Roscharchian way.  Unfortunately a photo can't approach the experience of looking at an inflorescence of these orchids in the flesh.   But it has been some years since I last saw a plant of this cross.  I wonder if it has gone out of fashion and has been superseded by new and even more unusual hybrids.  This plant won an AM/AOS when exhibited in St. Croix as a cut inflorescence by Irma Selles.

Porroglossum amethystinum a tiny and yet very weird orchid from Ecuador

When I first saw this little orchid I was totally stumped as to what orchid genus it could belong.  My ignorance can be excused on the basis that I had never previously seen an orchid of the genus Porroglossum.  These orchids are known for the particularity that they have a sensitive lip that retracts into the flower when touched.  The movement is triggered by an insect which is forced the lip’s action into contact with the plant pollinia.  There are a few specialists orchid growers in the United States that keep Porroglossum species but I have never seen this one before.  The flowers are lovely but small, the inflorescence is quite long in comparison with the flower size.  Because of the many other orchids with larger flowers in the Cabañas Armonia site I almost missed this one.   I saw this plant in the town of Mindo Ecuador.

Scaphosepalum dalstroemii, Quito Botanical Garden

This small orchid is found in Ecuador near the border with Peru in the high cloud forest of los Andes.  Since it grows at around 9,000 feet high in the mountains in cool to cold wet forests growing these plants outside their natural range demands careful attention to their growing conditions.  A few hardcore orchid enthusiasts in the United States grow this beauties but they are generally unknown in the wider orchid growing circles.  In Puerto Rico I have never seen a plant of this genus under cultivation.