Specialties
Angraecoids - Angraecums and related species are mostly white blooming orchids with
night fragrances. They are moderate light-requiring plants with blooms lasting
3-6 weeks. Pollinated by moths in nature, their beautiful perfumes are strong after
dark. Quite a few of our angraecums came from Lauralyn Orchids. Before Mary Anderson died, she made
arrangements for us to keep her angraecoids growing.
Our angraecum slide talk has been very popular with
orchid societies and groups and we are in the process of revamping a PowerPoint
presentation.
When an orchid hybrid is
judged and/or graded, it is considered higher in value when it is an
improvement over the parents. Angraecum Lemforde White Beauty hybrid
is an excellent example of this improvement.
Parents are Angr. magdalene and Angr.
sesquipedale.
Bulbophyllums - The bulbophyllum group has a
huge number of species that look wildly different. The species bulbophyllum, cirripedilum, and megaclinium are used interchangeably for quite a few of
these intermediate sunlight and temperature growers, so we refer to all of them
as bulbophyllums. Bulbophyllum
blooms are very intricate. Bulbos get a bad rap since
they are pollinated by flies. The
fragrance of some bulbos can be appalling. However about 90% of bulbophyllums
do not smell unless you actually stick your nose right next to the flower.
Our group of bulbophyllums is one of the largest
collections you will find east of the
Paphiopedilums and Phragmipediums - Some people love or hate lady's
slippers at first glance; others revaluate them later. Quite a few orchid
growers (ourselves included) began growing cattleyas,
phalaenopsis, dendrobiums,
etc. & then turned attention to paphs. Paphs or lady’s slippers require the least amount of light
to grow and thrive. Most paphs require no more light
than African violets, (and are a lot easier to grow - for us anyway!) Paphs need to stay moist, you don't let them dry out
totally like a cattleya requires. Paph
blooms stay for three (3) months. Some bloom even longer, e.g. Paph. William Matthews hybrids we’ve
seen bloom for five (5) months. When paph primary
hybrids grow to several growths, they will put out blooms twice a year so they
are in bloom as much as they are out of bloom. The foliage of many paphs, especially the mottled leaf varieties, is pretty by
itself. Phragmipediums and paphiopedilums
are cypripediums. Most (but naturally not all*) phrags
love keeping their feet wet since they grow in nature near riverbanks. Placing
a water-liking-phrag-pot in a saucer of continually
freshened water is much easier than TRYING to keep potting mix wet with
multiple waterings. Phrags are
becoming more available, not as expensive as in the past, and much easier to
grow. Most phrag stems put out one bloom at a time.
The plants stay in bloom many months.
*Phrags
that do NOT like wet feet are caudatum, warsciwicizianum, lindenii, and wallisii. Phrag. lindenii below was photographed in
full bloom 100’ up almost solid rock in
Species - We have more other species’ plants
than the above specialty groups put together.
You have to see them to believe them. We are putting together a talk
featuring species that you probably have not seen. Polycycnis lehmannii is a medium size plant. It is a moderate-everything-grower (light,
temperature, water, etc.).
