Essence of Stanhopea: Stanhopea oculata var mexicana Fowlie

Friday, April 17, 2009

Stanhopea oculata var mexicana Fowlie

Here is another stanhopea from my collection – stanhopea oculata var mexicana Fowlie. Even though it’s very old variety, being around since 1830’s, not many plants of this variety seen in cultivation.

It’s a beautiful stanhopea with very delicate dramatic looking flowers – distinct bright pink spots on pristine white color background with strong heady vanilla/spices scent.

At the end of flowering season, in early autumn my plant always sends out a few spikes with 4 or 5 flowers on each spike. This orchid would be much desired addition to any stanhopea collection.

6 comments:

Fran6Q said...: Congratulations on your beautiful collection. Keep at it. Thanks.
Fran.; April 17, 2009 4:50 AM
buedamau said...: this new aditions to your gartden always surprise me, they are endless!! and beautiful too ;P; April 21, 2009 4:25 PM
essenceoftime said...: Thank you for appreciating these beautiful creations of Nature.; May 1, 2009 1:53 AM
City Diggity said...: Wow! It's a beauty. How does one get seeds? Cheers!; May 10, 2009 11:06 PM
Sashindoubutsu said...: Wow... The flowers are so beautiful! My parent love orchids but we don't have any of these. We own just a few. You have a very nice collection of photos and I love looking at them.. Thanks for sharing.. I'm following you now..^^; June 13, 2009 9:13 PM
MaX said...: What a lineup! Thought you may be interested to see what popped here in Noosa this season (autumn). Mine grow mainly under a big spreading poinciana tree.
http://hmrmud.blogspot.com/; June 20, 2009 8:58 PM

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What Works For Me...

All of the known species of Stanhopea’s found in rainforests of South and Central America –some in the mountains and others in the valleys. They require humid, warm conditions to grow and to reproduce their beautiful flowers. Here in Australia we are fortunate to be able replicate their growing environment outdoor – our winters are mild and we don’t need (if we don’t want ) create special orchid houses or conservatories as our orchid friends do in Europe, Canada, US with controlled temperatures, humidifiers, mystifies, etc.. Still, the closer you can replicate their natural growing environment, the more they will reward you with their beautiful, unusual flowers.

Sadly, a lot of Stanhopea’s varieties are disappearing from their natural habitat and these days only existing in private collections. Since their discovery in the early 1800’s by British explorers many varieties are now extinct in the wild due to extensive and systematic land clearing in Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela. As an orchid species certain varieties of Stanhopeas can only be reproduced by straight divisions of the plant and do not easily lend themselves to tissue culture reproduction like many other orchids, hence commanding of the high prices.

When you ready to plant your orchid, don't position the bulbs deep in the soil – some years they’ll send out flowering shoot through the top, instead of bottom of the plant and the flowers will be cascading instead of coming through the bottom of the containers.

Stanhopea orchids take approx. 7 years to mature and to start producing flowers and if your first Stanhopea was a seedling, it would take about that much time to start flowering.

Stanhopea orchids have to grow in open hanging baskets so that when they start flowering they can send their flower spikes through the sides and bottom of the planter. They usually start sending flower spikes in our Australian climate from about mid-November. The flower spike will be maturing for about 5-6 weeks, getting longer and thicker until you can actually start seeing flower pods and then one day the flowers will emerge with the most heavenly perfume.

The earlier flowering Stanhopea's will flower here in Sydney at about Christmas time and different varieties will flower later - anytime between January and mid-April. Flowers usually open for about 7 days and penetrate the whole house with their perfume. The scents of different varieties are - chocolate, vanilla, orange, nutmeg, cinnamon, mint, apricot, citrus, fruit, jasmine, lemon, cherry, medicine, etc...