Polycycnis muscifera

Some of our wonderful Polycycnis species are flowering this month. Polycycnis is a genus of Euglossine bee pollinated orchids in the Stanhopeinae native to Central and South America. The flowers are small and delicate with a graceful arching column (reminiscent of Cycnoches, with whom they share a name derived from the Latin root cycnis, meaning swan). All the Polycycnis species have labella that are to some degree hairy. I'm amazed that any insect would regard the extraordinary velcro lip of Polycycnis muscifera (above) an enticing landing platform. Those long hairs must act as a flag to attract the bee's attention to the landing field.

Like other Euglossine bee pollinated orchids, Polycycnis offers fragrance compounds as a reward to male Euglossine bees. The bee lands on the lip and starts scratching near the base in order to obtain the fragrance volatiles. The weight of the bee pulls the flower down. When the bee starts hovering to transfer the fragrance to his hind legs, the flower's sticky viscidium disc, which you can see above in profile projecting like a tab from the club-like column, attaches to the bee's thorax.

Polycycnis are not at all common in cultivation, so be sure to stop by and catch ours in flower!

Cattleya intermedia

Flowering for the first time and making its debut this week in the Orchid Display House is a lovely Cattleya intermedia that we received a couple of years ago from the Brazilian nursery, Floralia. It is a horticultural variety called "marginata" that is characterized by a rich violet color on the frontal lobe and the margins of the lateral lobes of the lip. Although the plant is about half the size of the adjacent Laelia purpuratas and almost literally in their shade, it's hard to miss. It's exceptionally vibrant. And just plain cute.

Cattleya intermedia grows as an epiphyte in Paraguay, Uruguay and the southern Brazilian states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, where it favors coastal or stream-side swamps from sea level to 300 meters, often in full sun. When our plants are not on display, we grow them in very bright light in our warm greenhouse.

Stealth Fragrance

Hiding in plain sight in the Orchid Display House is one of the most deliciously fragrant orchids in our collection. Braemia vittata seems to wait with calculated patience as you pass it by on the way to a bigger showier orchid. Then, when you are about ten feet downwind, its 'come hither' message turns you around. Braemia vittata flowers produce an astonishingly convincing made-in-a-bakery vanilla icing fragrance.

With its single accordion-pleated leaf, Braemia vittata superficially resembles a Polycycnis. And the arching column hints at a genetic affinity for the swan orchids. But the petals and sepals of Braemia are a deep blackened purple with yellow stripes (vittata means striped), and the lip has a furrowed callus instead of the fright-wig fringe of a Polycycnis.

Braemia is a genus with just a single species. B. vittata grows as a terrestrial in wet forests in French Guinea, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela, northern Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru at 50 to 500 meters elevation. We grow our plants right alongside our Polycycnis in a warm greenhouse in 80% shade in a mixture of premium moss and chopped tree fern fiber.

Dendrobium wardianum

Dendrobium wardianum

Arriving at the end of the great tidal wave of dendrobiums in April and May is Dendrobium wardianum. Is this our prettiest Dendrobium? Sometimes I think so.

Dendrobium wardianum flowers on leafless canes after a month or so of cool dry weather, just like Dendrobium anosmum. In fact, we grow them exactly the same way. It spends the summer in our warm shady tropical greenhouse, and then part of the winter in our 53º (night minimum) sunny greenhouse. Dendrobium wardianum grows as an epiphyte from southern China through southeast Asia.

Coryanthes macrantha buds

The Fuqua Orchid Center is a garden of surprises. I walked into the greenhouse early yesterday morning and came face to face with the pinched and furrowed face of a Coryanthes macrantha (Bucket Orchid) bud. The light was dim and I think I jumped.

For sheer bud awesomeness, nothing beats Coryanthes.  A Coryanthes labors for weeks to produce two enormous buds. Those buds become the most riveting objects in the entire greenhouse. What's inside? 

Coryanthes macrantha

You can see Coryanthes macrantha on display this week in the Fuqua Orchid Center's Orchid Display House.

Isochilus major

Isochilus major has a Cinderella story. Our undemanding little plant sat on a bench in the backup greenhouse for years, never flowering, patiently growing, while its bigger showier neighbors were taken, one by one, to be installed and admired in the Orchid Display House.

One day a space opened up in the Fuqua Orchid Center's High Elevation House. An important place. In fact, the most prominent spot in the entire greenhouse, right up front--the very first thing that visitors see upon arriving. Can a spot like that remain empty? No way. In desperation I searched the greenhouses for an orchid.

And so, in a single moment our Isochilus, passed over for years, was whisked into a world of activity and attention. And what happened next?

Incredible!
Honestly, I can't say for sure why this plant suddenly flowered. Isochilus major does range widely in elevation through Mexico, Central America and northern South America. It could be that our plant was collected from the higher end of this range and should have been installed in the High Elevation House right from the start. (A princess all along!  ...not sure if that make me the prince or the fairy godmother...)
Anyway, a happy ending all around.

Laelia lobata

Laelia lobata flowering in the Fuqua Orchid Center

Another of the lovely Brazilian orchids flowering now in the Fuqua Orchid Center is Laelia lobata.

For most of the year our plants grow side by side with Laelia purpurata in the warm back up greenhouse. Although their cultural requirements are similar, for some reason Laelia lobata's flowering season is less predictable than that of Laelia purpurata. Sometimes we see a flush of flowers in fall.

Laelia lobata is not uncommon in cultivation. Unfortunately its remaining habitat in the wild has become restricted to vertical rocky outcrops around Rio de Janeiro, mainly at 200-800 m. Although it usually grows on rocky substrates, Laelia lobata is occasionally seen as an epiphyte in the canopy of taller trees.

The Brazilian Beauty, Laelia purpurata

Laelia purpurata carnea

June is a terrific month to see some of the showiest orchids in our collection. The Laelia purpurata* varieties, Stanhopea species and Anguloa (Tulip Orchid) species make a wonderful early summer combo. However, it is the Laelia purpurata varieties who are the undisputed stars of early summer. They pretty much own the Orchid Center for from late May until July.

Laelia purpurata 'Adam's' x "alba"

Laelia purpurata is enormously popular with orchid growers in warm countries, especially in Brazil, in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Sao Paulo, where it grows in coastal areas. Laelia purpurata is the state flower of Santa Catarina.

Laelia purpurata werkhauseri

Among Brazil's many annual floral shows the Joinville Flowers Festival in the state of Santa Catarina is the largest featuring Laelia purpurata. The festival, which hosts varied floral exhibits, scientific lectures, orchid judging, music and dancing, is dominated by the presence of Laelia purpurata and its many varieties. In recent years the festival's visitation has reached nearly 200,000.

In Atlanta Laelia purpurata is easy to grow in a warm (65º night minimum) bright greenhouse.They love Atlanta's long warm summers.We grow our plants in clay pots in a standard Cattleya mix of medium grade fir bark, charcoal and sponge rock. They grow quickly and make handsome specimen plants. Stop by and see them!

*some recent synonyms:
Cattleya purpurata Van den Berg (2008)
Sophronitis purpurata Van den Berg & Chase (2000)

Encyclia prismatocarpa

Encyclia prismatocarpa

Here is one of my favorite encyclias. Encyclia prismatocarpa grows as an epiphyte from Mexico through Central America at 1200 to 2500 meters. I love the leopard spots on the petals and sepals.

Until recently our plants grew well in our intermediate greenhouse, but with the trend toward warmer summers, they seem to prefer the Tropical High Elevation House, where the daytime temperatures stay below 77º. We were pleased to acquire the plant pictured above, an especially vivid color form, from Andy's Orchids this spring. It is flowering this week in a pot in the Orchid Display House. After flowering we will install it in the High Elevation House. A terrific orchid!

Dendrobium aphyllum

Dendrobium aphyllum in late April and early May in the Orchid Display House. 

Dendrobium aphyllum is amazing. The medium-sized plant pictured above produced more than one hundred flowers this spring. Almost every node on the gracefully arching pseudobulbs produced a pair of lavender flowers, each with a densely fuzzy white lip. For me, it's the plush velvet lip, not simply the floral production, that makes this orchid irresistible. 

Dendrobium aphyllum grows in India, Myanmar, Thailand and south China at 200 to 1800 m in seasonally dry tropical forests. The plant produces new leafy shoots in the spring that eventually become long slender pseudobulbs. The pseudobulbs shed their leaves after about a year. (Aphyllum means leafless.) Buds form in winter on the mature pseudobulbs.

In cultivation D. aphyllum (and similar species like D. anosmum) will thrive on a slab of tree fern, cedar or cork, or in a hanging basket to accommodate the pendant pseudobulbs. Our plant is mounted on a slatted cedar slab. A small slatted basket creates a healthy environment for roots, but can become quirkily lopsided if the plant insists on directing all of its new growth to one side.

Our plant gets the spa treatment in summer in a warm moist greenhouse. In November we move it to a cooler (53º nights) brighter greenhouse and back off the watering somewhat until January when the buds are visible. Aside from a thorough watering every ten days or so, it needs no maintenance at all during its winter rest. A terrific plant!

Nothing Says Spring Like Dendrobium

 Dendrobium lindleyi

For two incandescent months from mid March to mid May the Callista Dendrobium species illuminate the Fuqua Orchid Center. It's as though they want to join the burst of spring bulbs during Atlanta Blooms.

These beautiful and tremendously rewarding dendrobiums deserve greater attention from commercial growers and hobbyists.

Dendrobium lindleyi

What is a Callista Dendrobium?
The genus Dendrobium is so large that it has been divided into sections, based on general similarity. Dendrobium section Callista* contains 10-14 of the most admired species in the genus.

Dendrobium thyrsiflorum 

Callista dendrobiums grow in mainland southeast Asia at intermediate to high elevations in areas with a pronounced dry season. During the winter dry season Callista Dendrobium species that grow in deciduous forests experience cooler temperatures and brighter light.

Dendrobium thyrsiflorum, an early spring Narcissus wannabe

In cultivation Callista Dendrobium species need a moist tropical summer followed by a dry rest (often a cooler dry rest) in winter in order to initiate buds. Our plants receive 53º night temperatures and are watered less frequently from Thanksgiving through New Year's. This change in temperature and watering routine requires very little effort on our part.

Dendrobium chrysotoxum 

It seems insane to be so lavishly rewarded for so little effort! It's certainly not hard to figure out a way to water less frequently. If you manage the temperature drop you should definitely consider growing the Callista dendrobiums.

*Syn. Densiflora

Openings: Week of May 7

A whiskered Rhyncholaelia digbyana caught in mid-yawn, no doubt awaiting its nocturnal pollinator. Like many other orchids with a nocturnal moth pollinator,  Rhyncholaelia digbyana is night fragrant. The green tongue at the center of the flower is called a callus.

 Schomburgkia lyonsii, a lovely Caribbean species, holds a bouquet-like raceme of flowers atop a three foot tall spike.

Laelia purpurata var. werkhauseri, one of the most sought-after of the purpuratas, is flowering a month early in the Orchid Display House.

Oncidium spahacelatum ignites the circular bed of Mexican orchid species.

Epidendrum embreei flowers almost continuously at the base of the waterfall in the Tropical High Elevation House.

Stop by the Fuqua Orchid Center during Cocktails in the Garden this Thursday evening!

Is There a Blue Orchid?

Dendrobium victoriae-reginae flowering this week in the Fuqua Orchid Center

There are a couple contenders for the 'Blue Orchid' crown. One of them is the royal blue Dendrobium victorieae-reginae.

This beautiful orchid with pendant pseudobulbs and waxy blue-violet flowers is native to the Philippines where it grows at moderately high elevations (1300 to 2600 m) in wet mossy forests.

Our plants are permanent residents of the Tropical High Elevation House where they grow at eye level on a driftwood tree. The forests in which this species grows never experiences a regular dry season, so our cultivated plants are watered throughout the year.

The name victoriae-reginae denotes that the plant was named in honor of Queen Victoria whose Golden Jubilee was celebrated around the time of its discovery in 1897.

The other species that that comes up in any discussion of blue orchids is Vanda coerulea (coerulea= sky blue) which has imparted its blue violet pigment to many richly colored hybrids.

Both of these orchids are extremely popular. What do you think--does either orchid deserve the name 'Blue Orchid'?