Phalaenopsis bellina with a long long history

This is an interesting plant with a long, long, long history. 

To start with, the shape of the flower of this plant is not spectacular. 

I first came across this plant about 15 -20 years ago in Woon Leng nursery.  Mr Teo Peng Seng used it as a stud plant for many of his violacea hybrids.  Back in those days this was referred to as Phalaenopsis violacea (Borneo Form).

What are the special qualities of this plant?

1. It is a wild collected plant.

2. The flowers are HUGE.

So if you combine the 2 together, you will see the foresight of Mr. Teo.  Many people who have seen wild collected plants with big flowers will know that most of them have narrow flowers with backward curving sepals and petals and also what we refer to as "cowboy" legs.  Not pretty at all.

Not this one.

Somehow it landed in MH nursery after many years and now that MH nursery is no longer operating, the plant ended up in my collection.  MH sold a cutting to another collector a few months before closing the nursery and i bought the mother plant from him after that.

At its prime, the flower is more than 3 inches from tip to tip. (I must emphasize that it is not the vertical length).  In fact i went around to measure some of the bellinas in MH nursery and they all exceeded 3 inches (tip to tip).  Some of the flowers are huge and rounded - but they were all created by MH, not wild.

So here it is.

  To every visitor:

Happy New Year!!

Phalaenopsis Hannover Passion

This is a nice Phalaenopsis hybrid with very striking pattern.  This plant flowers very frequently and does not require a lot of space because the leaves are not too big. 

bulbophyllum membranaceum

This is a miniature Bulbophyllum found in Malaysia, Borneo, Java, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Papua and New Guinea, Solomon Islands Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu.  It is apparently very widespread! Wonder if Singapore has any wild population of this orchid hiding somewhere among the tree canopy of our central catchment area.  I got this plant from Mr. Lim's nursery in Penang.  The color on the flower of this plant is deeper than the one i purchased from Song Orchids.

 

Eulophia graminea

Eulophia graminea is a common orchid found in Singapore.  It is very successful because unlike other showy orchids with big colorful flowers, this miniature gem has onion-like pseudobulbs and hides among the cow grass and other shrubs along hedges or in open fields.  It is beautiful in its own unassuming way with small olive-green colored flowers carried on an erect flower spike, peering out from among the grass.  You need to have keen eyes in order to spot them.  Once you do you will be amazed how many more there are nearby.  In one location, i recently counted about fifty clumps growing.  Then i looked around and found a few more, and a few more ....wow!!!

Bulbophyllum lasiochilum

This is a small orchid found in India, Burman, Thailand and Malaysia.  It is quite variable in color, ranging from yellowish with brown maroon spots to deep purple.  This particular plant has deep purple top half and a whitish spotted bottom half.

 

It is extremely eary to grow and suffers from very few problems.  Bulbophyllums are generally quite hardy plants cos they have a good storage system in the form of a plump pseudobulb and the leaves are generally thick and firm.  

Paphiopedilum liemianum

Paphiopedilum liemianum is a warm loving paph found only in Sumatra.  This plant was bought during the recent Singapore Garden Festival.  The plant went dormant for a while but recently produced another flower bud and seem to become active again. 

Dendrobium truncatum

I recently remounted this miniature dendrobium and attached it onto a tree branch.  It is doing quite well and flowers all the time.  I think the improved ventilation is good for the plant.  I like this dendrobium because it has a cute little pseudobulb about the size of a small shallot and the flowers are also small and cute.

 

 

Coelogyne trinervis

This is an easy orchid to grow in singapore and flowers frequently in our climate.  This plant came from Chiang Mai and this is its first flowering here.  Unlike my other trinervis plants, this one has flowers with white instead of cream colored petals.  The markings on the lip is also deeper in color.

Paphiopedilum parishii

I bought this plant recently when i visited the Singapore Garden Festival at Suntec City.  Hopefully it will be able to grow well and flower again soon.

Phalaenopsis lamelligera

This very beautiful Phal. lamelligera has been flowering for a few months already.  Just like Phal. cornu-cervi, it keeps flowering for months as long as the plant is kept well nourished.

Aerides lawranceae

This plant was bought from Mr. Lim Song of Penang about one and a half years ago.  It is the second time this year that the plant is flowering.

I have never been fond of Vandaceous orchids because they take up too much space and i am not really a fan of big flowers.  However, i think Aerides is a good exception. 

Paphiopedilum leucochilum

This plant was also bought about the same time as the godefroyae alba.  It has very nice flowers with striking color.  However the price is much lower than the godefroyae 'alba'.

Paphiopedilum godefroyea 'alba'

I recently purchased 2 plants of Paph. godefroyae 'alba' and this is the one with the flower that still looks fresh enough for a picture.

Dendrobium distichum

This is a miniature Dendrobium found in the Philippines and i happen to have two plants that show very interestingly different behavior.

This particular plant from Mr. Yusof Alsagoff produces flowers from between the leaves along the plant as well as on the tip the leaf stalk.

This plant however likes to produce a 'ball' of flowers at the tip of the leaf stalk.

A Few Phalaenopsis

After a good breakfast in Kreta Ayer Market, i came home to take a few pictures of the Phalaenopsis that are flowering in the backyard.

This is Phal.violacea var sumatra. 

Phal.Mambo, a cross between Phal.amboinensis and Phal. marie.  This plant was bought during the recent WOC2011 at MBS.

This is a nice form of Phal.amboinensis 'Common' var Nicole, bought from Song Orchids last year.  It stopped flowering for a while but began flowering again after the recent rain.  For some reason/s this plant is not as free flowering as the other forms of amboinensis.  The yellow and flava form flowers almost all the time.  I also have a few other plants of he 'Common' form that flowers more freely although the flowers are not as striking as this one.

This is Phal.amboinensis, a nice plant that came from Mr. David Lim's collection.

This Phal.amboinensis var 'flava' also originated from Mr. David Lim but i bought it from MH nursery.  This is a highly sought after plant because it is one of the two or three known wild amboinensis 'flava' which existed 20 years ago. Today the clones are readily available at only a small fraction of the price.

Paphiopedilum praestans

A pleasant surprise this morning when i inspected my plants!  I did not even realise that this plant had thrown out a flower spike until i saw the flower. I am using a lot of coarse sand in the potting media for P. praestans and the plant seems to like it. 

Dendrobium lamellatum

This is a miniature Dendrobium collected from the forest of Malaysia according to Mr. Lim Song of Penang.  Its beautiful flowers are about 1.5cm across.  This plant is sharing a piece of tree bark with Bulbophyllum medusae.

Bulbophyllum lindleyanum

This is an interesting Thai bulbophyllum that grows easily in Singapore.  It flowers 3 to 4 times in a year and produces little hairy flowers with striking dark lines.

This Bulbophyllum requires little space because the pseudibulbs are only about 1cm in diameter with usually a single leaf about 8-10 cm in length.  This plant started flowering when there were about 5 bulbs.  I grow it on a very big piece of fern bark together with another bulbophyllum species and a Coelogyne trinervis.  What happened was i was out of fern bark and out of time so i mounted all of them onto one piece of bark and left them there ever since.  They seem to like the idea so i left them alone.

This is the Coelogyne trinervis growing aloneside the Bulbophyllum.  Guess they must be very happy together cos they all come from the same country of origin.  Extremely beautful trinervis, i must say, with a delicate color and hanging gracefully from the base of the swollen pseudobulb. 

Paphiopedilum wenshanense

This orchid is found in Yunnan China and may be a natural hybrid of Paph concolor and Paph bellatulum. 

Paphiopedilum angthong

This is a recent addition to my Paph collection.  Many consider this to be a variety of Paph godefroyae but some growers prefer to keep them apart.  Nowadays, the alba form of angthong is so abundant that you are more likely to see it in the nursery than the normal form.

Paphiopedilum concolor

Another easy Paph for Singapore and can be easily grown in our high-rise balconies.  It needs a bright but sheltered environment with good air movement.  This particular concolor has a line running down the middle of the petals and sepal.

Phalaenopsis violacea

A very nice Phalaenopsis violacea with deep and even coloration.  Recently, Taiwanese growers are producing many intensely colored violaceas and these are available in Singapore and Thailalnd.  However, most of them have a faint pale line running down the middle of the petal or even the sepal.  So an evenly colored flower is still rare. 

Phalaenopsis Hybrid

I am not sure what is the name of this hybrid from MH nursery.  Got to ask Moi Hwa when i see him again.  I think it is a cross between Phal. amboinensis flava and Phal. Yellow Angel.  The flower of this Phal. looks very much like amboinensis flava with rounded form.

Paphiopedillum primulinum

This is another Paph that can be grown relatively easily in Singapore without air-conditioning.  Got this plant from Song Orchid last year and this is its second fowering here.

Phalaenopsis Valentinii 'Red' and Phalaenopsis lamelligera

This Phal is always flowering.  Like its cornu-cervi parent, the flowers appear singly but the flowering can last for months or even years with one flower appearing just before the previous flower fades.  This time i am able to take a good shot because the new flower happen to be at the right level for me to balance my camera and the flower is facing out so i don't have to shift the plant around to take a shot.

This is a very nice lamelligera from Joseph Wu.  Bought it a few years back at the Garden Tech exhibition when it was held at the Hort Park.  The flower has bold patches instead of lines and is much bigger.

Paphiopedilum stonei

Bought this Paph stonei from the Ching Hua booth on the last day of the WOC 2012.  It was in a plastic bag with some sphagnum moss so i went home and potted it in medium pine bark, limestone chip and some diatomite.  Recently it threw out a flower spike and produced a beautiful large flower with long petals.

Bulbophyllum auratum

My Bulbophyllum auratum decided to throw out seven flower stalks recently.  Six of them carries pink flower while one stalk of flower is yellow in color.  I must have placed two different plants together on the same piece of tree bark.  A few months ago, i was searching for the yellow auratum cos i remember having one.  But i just couldn't find it.  Now i know where it is.

This Morning

These are some other flowers which i photographed this morning. 

Phalaenopsis bellina

Phalaenopsis cornu-cervi var chattaladae

Bulbophyllum plumatum

Dendrobium lamellatum

Paphiopedillum bellatulum

Another Paph.bellatullum flowering recently.

The constant rain for the past few months did a lot of damage to my paphs.  Many of them suffered bacteria rot almost at a rate of one leaf a day and i lost many plants including some which i had been growing for more than ten years.  The damage is brought under control only with lots of Physan and keeping the affected plants dry and away from the others. 

Phalaenopsis violacea

This is a nice violacea bought during the WOC in 2011.

Recently, there is an increase in the number of nice violaceas from Taiwan.  These plants have good color and shape and the price is reasonable.