Dendrobium lamellatum and Dendrobium platycaulon

These 2 orchids have flattened stems and the plants look very similar when not in flower.  The D.lamellatum was from Mr Lim Song (Penang) whereas the D. polycaulon was from a seller near Ayutthaya. 

Dendrobium lamellatum

 

Dendrobium Platycaulon



Phalaenopsis amboinensis var common

This plant was bought during the Singapore Garden Festival a couple of years ago.  Shortly after I bought the plant it began to show some problems getting used to the weather here.  It went dormant for a while but began actively growing a few months back.  It is now producing bigger and longer leaves as well as healthy roots.  The dormant flower spikes are also springing back to life and this is the first flower after a long time.

This plant has flowers with bold and dark markings.

Phalaenopsis cornu-cervi chattaladae

These are a few of the very dark red Phalaenopsis cornu-cervi var.chattaladae that are flowering now. 

 

Paphiopedilum godefroyae alba (white form)

This is the first time this plant flowered in my place.  Got it earlier this year so I am quite pleased that it only took a short time to settle down and throw out a flower.  The lower temperatures for the past few weeks might have triggered the flowering.  I hope more Paphs would follow soon.

This is a white form of Paph. godefroyea alba.  There is another yellow form which is not flowering yet. 

Phalaenopsis lamelligera

These two flowers belong to two different plants of P.lamelligeras.  One plant was bought from Mr. Joseph Wu (Taiwan) while the other plant was from Mr. Lim Song (Penang).

 

P. lamelligera generally has bolder markings than the other members of the cornu-cervi family.  It also has a unique m-shaped lip.  Some taxonomists also quoted differences in the way the flowers are produced on the flower stalk, making it sufficiently separate from P. cornu-cervi which it so closely resembles especially when not in flower.

Some Nice Flowers

Another plant of blue violacea flowered.  This is the first flower for this plant so I am very happy that the flower turned out to be quite big which means this plant has good potential.

 

A sharp contrast to the blue of the violacea above is the cornu-cervi var. chataladae.  This is not the darkest red in my collection of chattaladeas but it is a good one nevertheless.

 

 

Adding some elegance is the flower of Coelogyne trinervis.  But frankly i'm not even sure it is a trinervis because the plant is huge compared to my other trinervis and this one has no musky fragrance at all. 

 

 

The ones with the strangest fragrance has to be the flowers of Dendrobium anosmum.  This plant is e flowering out of the usual season because the other plants are not in flower at all.  They usually flower at the same time, much like the pigeon orchids.

 

 

Dendrobiums really comes in all shapes and sizes.  Hard to believe that this little flower of Dendrobium prenticei is related to the one above.  I have three plants of prenticei but this one seem to be flowering all the time. The other two hardly flowers at all.  This size of this flower is about 2-3mm across.

 

 

 

 

 

Paphiopedilum concolor alba var hennisianum

This is the alba form of the common form of Paph.concolor.  Very nice pure yellow flower and also a very robust plant which threw out three side shoots at the same time.

 

I have another plant of concolor alba which is almost 20 years old.  It also recently threw out a flower spike so this must be the flowering season.  The first flower bud should open in a week's time. 

Phalaenopsis violacea

This is another nice violacea with very good color, although not as intense as the flower in the earlier post. Both have the same nice scent of violacea which in my opinion is spicier than that of Phalaenopsis bellina.

 

A blue violacea flowering always makes my day so when this one flowered i was extra delighted because there seem to be an improvement in the flower size as well as intensity of the color, thus proving that apart from size, color also improves as the plant matures and increases in size.

 

Paphiopedilum liemianum

This paph flowers in succession on the same flower stalk so after the first one withered, this flower opened.

Phalaenopsis violacea

This is one of my prized collection.  The color of this Phalaenopsis violacea is so intense that i am finding it difficult to capture its true beauty with my camera.  So far none of the pictures do it any justice. The closest i can find is this one.

Coelogyne pandurata

 

The flowers finally opened last weekend! Somehow, big Coelogyne flowers tend to attract the big black wasp which came two days later and devoured 2 of the flowers.  Lucky for me, i took a few pictures before it happened.  That's nature.  The wasp's service is probably required and the fleshy flowers are just the reward. 

 

 However, smaller Coelogyne flowers are spared, like this Coelogyne fimbriata which has never suffered any wasp attack. 

The flowers themselves may have the ability to produce the unique pheromones to attract the intended insects.



Brassavola nodosa

A beautiful orchid found in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Caymans, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, Puerto Rico, French Guiana, Surinam, Guyana, Venzuela, Colombia and Brazil. WOW!

Absolutely beautiful and elegant. Absolutely fragrant at night no wonder it is also known as "Lady of the Night".  The fragrance is simply wonderful because it is sweet, almost jasmine-like but spicier and sweeter yet not overpowering.  A joyous welcome evertime i return from my evening walks.

Coelogyne pandurata

This is a large Coelogyne with very beautiful green flowers.  It can be found in Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra as well as Philippines.  This particular plant was collected from the Malaysian jungle and sold to me by Mr Lim Song of Penang many years ago.  The leaves are about 30cm long and 10-12cm wide.  Pseudobulbs are flattend, about 8cm wide and 4cm thick.

This plant flowers very well when grown in very bright light (almost full sun for most part of the day).  But when grown in partial shade the leaves become bigger and greener.  I repotted this plant last year and it finaly threw out a flower spike recently.  Charcoal was used as the medium and the pot was placed directly onto soil.

Phalaenopsis lamelligera

This plant from Taiwan started to flower again after lying dormant for a while. 

Paphiopedilum liemianum

Named after Mr. Liem K.W, an Indonesian orchid pioneer, this Paph is described as a hot to warm growing orchid but the altitute found (600 to 1000m ) seems to suggest cooler nights.  I hope this plant can be added to the list of suitable paphs for Singapore.

Coelogyne trinervis

Coelogyne trinervis is a free-flowering orchid found in Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Java and Sumatra.  I have three plants which are slightly different from one another.  One has huge pseudobulbs and leaves with pale flowers, one is a normal form and this one has smaller pseudobulbs with longer but narrower leaves.  I sometimes wonder whether this is a trinervis at all because the flowers do not have the musky fragrance. 

Paphiopedilum primulinum

This Paph is not a lowland species but somehow it is able to survive in Singapore's warm climate.  This plant came from Taiwan, which is now supplying a lot of species and hybrid Paphs to the rest of the world.  Taiwan is blessed with having a wide range of climatic conditions suitable for many Paph species.

Paphiopedilum haynaldianum

This is a warm to hot growing Paph from the Philippines and is one of very few Paphs suitable for Singapore.  However, it is not common to see this plant being sold in our nurseries.  I got this plant many years ago accidentally because it was mistakenly labelled as a philippinense.

Above: The flower spike appeared about a month ago after the plant recovered from some fungal attack.

 

The flower finally opened yesterday morning and stretched out completely today.



Dendrobium signatum

This is a seasonal flower from Thailand.  The leaves will drop from the long cane which remains quite leafless until some environmental trigger causes it to produce flower buds at the swollen nodes.  The flowers are beautiful so it is worth the long wait.  It flowers about twice a year.

Nice hybrid

This is a Phal. lamelligera hybrid created by Mr. Lim Song of Penang.  It has very bright cinnamon colored bars on a greenish yellow background. 

 

One parent of this hybrid is a very nice Phal. lamelligera which Mr. Lim had kept for many years.  For years, I had wanted to purchase a keiki from him but the outcome was not successful either because he couldn't find the keiki or the keiki did not survive after i brought it home.  Two years ago he decided to give up his nursery so i bought the mother plant from him.  It is still growing well but has not flowered yet. 

A Few Nice Flowers Last Week

I took these pictures last week but was too busy to post them.

This plant of Phal. lamelligera was purchased a few years ago during one of the Garden Festivals at Hort Park.  It came from Joseph Wu and has proven to be a good buy because it is very free flowering and the patches of cinnamon colored pattern are deep and bold.

 

The front portion of this Phal. Valentinii plant rotted away a few months ago so i decided to let the plant consolidate its resources and divert them to the creation of side shoots.  I do this by cutting off the tips of the flower spikes so the plant would not be burdened by the creation of flowers.  The plant however, has a mind of its own and decided to produce a side spray from an old flower spike.  I think i will leave it alone.

 

 

 

 



Bulbophyllum lasiochilum

This is the first flower produced by the plant after i repotted most of my Bulbophyllums.  They were getting a bit mal-nourished on the old medium.

This type of B.lasiochilum gives out a very strong fragrance during the day.