Interesting Plant of Paph. glaucophyllum

This plant of Paph. glaucophyllum has flowers with an interesting pattern on its dorsal sepal.  Instead of the usual green patch with lines this one has scattered dots.  I grow my glaucophyllums and liemianums in the same medium and under the same conditions - bark, charcoal chips, limestone chips, clay pellets and some peat moss.

Close-up of the dorsal sepal

Paphiopedilum liemianum

This is the second flower on a new flower spike produced by this plant.  The plant is grown exposed to sun and rain, in moderate shade under my Phalaenopsis plants.  The flower is most beautiful on the first few days when the petals are still quite straight.  They will curve back a little in a couple of days.

This is the flower yesterday morning:

This is the flower this morning:

It is fully open and the petal has a slight twist.

Paphiopedilum concolor

If there is a Paph that's easy to flower in Singapore, i would say it has to be P.concolor.  It can tolerate our warm climate and when grown outdoors, it should be given a good shading of about 50%.  My plants are shaded more because i hang my Phalaenopsis above the Paphs.  Sometimes i think my Paphs are not getting enough light.

This is another plant of concolor which flowered recently.  The plant is very robust and is now carrying two flowers at the same time.

Phalaenopsis violacea var blue

It has been raining almost everyday recently so i guess the increased humidity coupled with cooler weather must have triggered the flowering of these blue violaceas.  Two of them are the violacea indigo variety while the other one was from MH nursery a few years ago.  These violaceas require almost the same care as regular violaceas.  However they generally grow slower and mortality rate among young plants is rather high.

Violacea blue

Violacea indigo #1

Violacea indigo #2

Coelogyne trinervis

This orchid flowered again recently.  It is an easy plant to take care of and flowers very frequently.  Every new shoot starts off as a flower spike and then when the flowers wither away, leaves would start to appear at the base of the flower spike.  These would grow longer and eventually the base would swell into a bulb.

This particular plant was mounted onto a large piece of fern bark and grown in 50% shade.  The bulbs are about 4-5 inches long and leaves are about 15-16 inches long.  It is a rather big plant.

Paphiopedilums Flowering

Paphiopedilum wenshanense
This plant was bought in April 2012 and began flowering again recently.  It is found naturally in Yunnan China and has thick leaves which are dark tessellated-green on top and purplish below.  Paph. wenshanense is thought by some to be actually a natural hybrid between concolor and bellatullum and it does have characteristics from both plants.  Those plants which are man-made crossings of the two are named Paphiopedilum conco-bellatulum.  A beautiful flower nevertheless, man-made or otherwise.

The green spots on the staminode may indicate that this plant is not actually wenshanense but probably S.Gratrix instead.  Another case of sellers mis-labelling their plants.

Paphiopedilum concolor
This is the second flower on the same plant that flowered recently.  The flower is smaller than the first but still quite a nice one.  The plant is getting stronger now with larger, thicker leaves and two new growths are produced.  Hope it would fill the pot soon so i can divide the plant.  Of the Brachypetalum section of Paphiopedilums, concolor seems to be most easily adaptable to our climate.

Paphiopedilum glaucophyllum
This plant is found naturally in Sumatra and Java.  The flowers open one at a time on a long flower spike so flowering can last a long long time ( usually for months ). It can be grown in Singapore but i observed that it can be sensitive to moving around so once it is happily growing in a location, i try not to shift it too much.

Another Paphiopedilum concolor

This flower just opened a few days ago.  It has a large rounded dorsal sepal as well as very cup-shaped petals.  The plant has excellent form and should be an award winning specimen.