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.

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.