hybrid

Dendrobium Nobiles Go Mainstream

Once shunned by growers for their persnickety culture, Dendrobium Nobiles are enjoying a rally rarely seen in orchid commerce. It all began with the quest for an alternative to Phalaenopsis that could be mass produced and distributed with little damage and have a good shelf life. Thus far, the public has responded by snapping up the plants like hot cakes. 

Dinner with Priscilla

Six degrees of separation refers to the notion that all people are six, or fewer, social connections away from each other. Imagine if only two degrees separated you from someone very famous, in other words, an A-List celebrity is “a friend of a friend.” We experienced this situation in 2009 when a walk-in client informed us that she worked extensively with Priscilla Presley. 

Cattleya warscewiczii

The king of the mountain heralds the arrival of summer

 

C. warscewiczii typical

One of my favorite times of year is early summer, not because the sun is at its brightest then, or because the days stretch lazily into long warm summer evenings, but because this is when my favorite Cattleya species, Cattleya warscewiczii, blooms.

Cattleya trianaei

This Lovely Lady Unfolds During the Winter

 

C. trianaei

Winter may be a dreary time of the year with its overcast days and long somber nights, but for those who grow Cattleya trianaei, it is a time to enjoy one of nature’s most colorful and captivating flowers.

Cattleya quadricolor

Cattleya quadricolorfirst appeared in Europe in 1848 when an English orchid grower named Rucker received a single plant from a friend traveling in Colombia. When the plant flowered in 1849, Rucker sent the flowers to the botanist John Lindley, asking him what it was. The only large-flowered Cattleyaspecies known at the time were Cattleya. labiata and Cattleya mossiae, and Lindley thought the flowers Rucker sent were different enough from these two species to mention the plant in an article he wrote for Paxton’s Flower Garden.

Cattleya mendelii

The Vanished Monarch

A visit to the gardens at Manley Hall was a wonderful experience. Forty-four greenhouses traveled the spectrum of the whole plant kingdom — with winding walks and waterfalls as in a rich tropical valley of ferns, or stepping stones for walkways that connected a wonderland of artificial lakes filled with aquatic plants. Everything luxuriated in palms, cycads, and beautiful-leaved plants, but there was also a greenhouse full of flowering azaleas surrounded by beds of pansies.

 

Cattleya lawrenceana

The Little Charmer

Orchids were a passion for the new president of The Royal Horticultural Society as he took office in March 1885. His estate at Burford Lodge in Dorking, England, with its 12 greenhouses, was written up frequently in the horticultural press and it was often said he had the best private orchid collection in Britain. His mother, Louisa, had been an active gardener and botanist, and the new president credited her with stimulating his love for orchids. They were her passion, too.

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