Stanhopea posada - new

Stanhopea posada 1

Stanhopea posada 2

Stanhopea posada 3

Stanhopea posada 4

Quite a number of years ago I’ve acquired few very small stanhopea seedlings labelled as “stanhopea posada - new species from Colombia” . Not much details were given and to this day I have no idea if this actually a new specie or natural hybrid. There is no stanhopea specie registered under this name, so I still don’t know any information about this plant, only that it came from Colombia. The plants were happily growing and maturing and finally this season decided to flower. 

Stanhopea Tigrina x Assidensis

Stanhopea Tigrina x Assidensis1

 

Stanhopea Tigrina x Assidensis2

 

 

This beauty have an abundance of flowers and the scent is very strong and pleasing - it's everything every stanhopea grower and collector wants to see. It have multitude of sculptured blooms, heavenly scent, strong hardy and vigorous growth, plant not shy at all sending many flower spikes during it's growing season. My stanhopea's Tigrina x Assidensis frequently flower couple of times every season.

Technically, of course, it's 2nd generation cross since stanhopea Assidensis is a hybrid between tigrina and wardii and in this orchid it seems to be able to show it's fine qualities to the full. Standing next to this stanhopea when it's in bloom an experience not easily forgotten when one enveloped with strong, penetrating vanilla and marshmallow perfume.

Stanhopea Great Expectations

Here is an interesting stanhopea cross from my collection - it's a hybrid between stanhopea nigroviolacea and stanhopea hernandezii, registered under the name Great Expectations by D Hartley of England in 2007.

It flowers with beautifu, flamboyant blooms and one can see both parents in the structure of flowers. It always producing flower spike with two flowers, just like hernandezii and it's always showing very clearly hernandezii lip structure, but the petals of the flowers inherited nigraviolacea coloring. The scent isvery sweet vanilla with herbal undertones, very strong and penetrating.

Stanhopea Great Expectations is another attractive addition to any stanhopea collection.                                                                                                                                                                  

  

Stanhopea panamensis

This beautiful stanhopea bloomed right at the end ouf flowering season and it's stanhopea panamensis. Its native to Panama and it appears to be only growing in the area of the Cerro Campana, approx 50 km southwest of Panama City in high altitude of wet rainforests.

It was first mentioned in one of the orchids publications in 1988 and to date number of colored plants been discovered from pure white to heavy spotted varieties however all of them have stretched hypochil, flat and long.

My panamensis orchid have light coloring with a few spots on the petals, very interesting combination and it flowered with the most magical scent, layered with many tones to it. One can smell top floral tones followed by musk followed by herbal mixture - pure delight!

This specie well worth growing for any stanhopea collector, it's unusual and sometimes temperamental in cultivation - some years it appears to be just resting and then suddenly decides to reward patient stanhopea grower with beautiful blooms.

Stanhopea shuttleworthii

Here is an introduction to another beautiful and rather rare stanhopea - stanhopea shuttleworthii. It was named afer famous collector Shuttleworth who was collecting orchids for a firm in Chelsea, England in late 1800's. Shuttleworth found this special stanhopea in 1875,  growing in New Granada ( today Colombia) on the boarder of Reo Magdalena in the state of Tolima and shipped it to England from where it was distributed to various orchid enthusiasts.

To this day this very decorative species continuous to be rare in collections and to see its flowering gives me great pleasure and excitement. The plant itself is of medium size, with smallish bulbs and leaves yet the flowers are large, appearing in pair on each flower spike.This season my plant developed two flower spikes and the one in the picture was the first flowering. The colors of the blooms very vibrant, bright burgundy with many spots on the overlaping petals with white/creamy background. The scent is very strong cinnamon with vanilla tones and lingers for a long time.

Stanhopea shuttleworthii is another beautiful orchid that delights any stanhopea collector who appreciates these stunning marvels of Nature. 

Stanhopea Assidensis

This handsome orchid just finished it's flowering season. It's stanhopea Assidensis very nice hybrid between stanhopea tigrina x stanhopea wardii. It's one of the earlier crossess registered by Goldchmidt of Royal Horticultural Society in 1922.

The flowers of this cross are large and full, pale pink color with many darker pink spots and blotches with dark burgundy eyes, the scent is very fragrant vanilla/ marchmallow combination, strong and penetrating and lasts a very long time. It's very generous cross, producing many flower spikes during growing season.

It's another distinct orchid that will delight any stanhopea grower.

Stanhopea saccata "Rene"

This orchid is another recent addition to my collection and it's just finished it's flowering - it's stanhopea saccata "Rene" and it's beautiful, flamboyant looking stanhopea.

The plant itself is of the smallish size with thin-looking leaves, but the flowers quite large and showy with many beautiful bright colors and tones. Deep yellow, lime green, white and many purple dots sprinckled all over the blooms, giving kind of luminous appearance to the flowers.

The scent is very interesting , a bit difficult to describe and to me flowers smell a bit like fresh-cut apple, crisp and subtle - very unusual.

Stanhopea saccata "Rene" is very pretty variety and I am sure it will be welcome addition in any stanhopea collection.

Stanhopea saccata

Here is another interesting stanhopea from my collection that finished flowering not long ago. It’s stanhopea saccata and it’s one of the oldest documented stanhopea species. It was first discovered in late 1830’s in humid forests of Guatemala and since then been fascinating stanhopea collectors.
It’s very flamboyant looking stanhopea with large sculptured flowers. I took this picture when blooms just started to unfold and open and it’s showing its beautiful coloring – white with specs petals and yellow/ pale green slightly edged middle. As the flower matures, in a day or two, the colors became more intense and blooms elongated. The scent of stanhopea saccata is first strong cinnamon and then in a background a bit of orange mix – very pleasing combination.
This is another beautiful stanhopea orchid to admire and to cherish and to welcome to any stanhopea collection.

Stanhopea grandiflora x connata

This beautiful cross of stanhopea grandiflora x connata just finished its flowering season. It’s another new stanhopea for me, so it was interesting to see its flowering and establishing place in my ever-expanding collection.

Both parents splendidly represented in this cross – from connata it inherited beautiful yellow/orange buffed, buttered color with many red specs and dots, with hypochil kind of condensed towards the base of the flower, and from grandiflora large, slightly droopy blooms that never fully opened. The flowers are large and waxy in texture, thick to the touch.

The scent is very complicated, very forceful and penetrating and initial scent is very
strong scent of myrrh, then secondary scent of spices takes over – clove, cinnamon being most dominating – very nice combination.

Stanhopea grandiflora x connata is another beautiful, special stanhopea that delights with its lovely unusual and superior blooms.

Stanhopea hernandezii

This is another beautiful stanhopea with very colorful history. It was named after Fernando Hernandez, scholar of medical and other natural sciences from Toledo, Spain who was instructed by King Philipp II of Spain in 1569 to complete natural history of plants, minerals and animals of Nueva Espania (Mexico). Hernandez travelled through Mexico and documented and described everything he came across with and in 1576 total of 16 volumes was completed called “ De Rerum Medicarum Nova Hispaniae Thesaurus”. Five of the plants he encountered on his journey were orchids and one of them was stanhopea. Unfortunately, he died in 1578, without seeing his life-work printed, and in 1671 medico-botanical part of his work only was published, with everything else burnt later. It’s interesting that only in 1918 stanhopea that he described and documented was finally named after him – stanhopea hernandezii.

Stanhopea heranadezii is a very decorative orchid and can be a bit of a challenge to bring it to flower. It prefers a lot of moisture during growing season and dry, warm period during winter. The plant itself is on the smallish size compared to other stanhopea’s, yet the flowers a large and full. My plant sent one flower spike with two beautiful flowers early in the season and then about a month later another flower spike appeared with another two flowers, making it a double flowering this summer.

It’s striking, beautiful, dramatic looking stanhopea and another variety to admire and cherish for any stanhopea collector.

Stanhopea graveolens x costaricensis

Another of my stanhopea’s just finished its flowering season. It’s beautiful cross of graveolens and costaricensis. It’s very vigorous orchid, sending many flower spikes during its blooming cycle and at the same time developing many new leaves that maturing quickly.

The flowers of this cross are large and sculptured, appears very delicate, yet quite tough and strong. The color predominately white with yellow center with many purple color dots dusted around the blooms. The scent is very strong nutmeg, pungent and penetrating and has many spicy secondary notes to it, an absolute delight!

It’s another beautiful orchid to have in one’s collection and to admire magic of stanhopea’s blooms.

Stanhopea nigripes

The history of stanhopea nigripes, like of many orchids, shrouded in a bit of mystery. This beautiful and special stanhopea first flowered in Kew in late 1890’s from a plant purchased in auction a few years earlier. For many years origin of this stanhopea was unknown and that only plant was displayed and studied by various botanists.

In 1960’s further research was completed on this specie and these days we know that stanhopea nigripes native to wet mountain rainforests of Peru and growing at an elevation of 1900 meters.

My plant just finished its first flowering and I took some pictures of it’s beautiful blooms. At the moment it’s starting to develop another spike, giving a second blooming this season. It’s quite vigorous and generous stanhopea.

The flowers are large, dark cream color with a shade darker overlapping petals and very big, distinct black “eyes”. The scent is very unusual, it smells of “smoke” – very strong and penetrating. When the flowers unfolded, one could smell smoke everywhere and people commented that there must be “bush fires” nearby, but of course, it was this stanhopea’s unique scent.

Stanhopea nigripes is another wonderful and unusual orchid to add to any stanhopea collection and it delights me to be able to share its magic this flowering season.

Stanhopea tigrina var albescens

This “gold” colored form of stanhopea tigrina from my collection currently in flower. Its rare variety albescens and it’s presenting all characteristics of tigrina’s blooms, except tigrina’s colors.

The blooms are very large, measuring more than 26 cm across with two flowers developing on each flower spike. This variety have very large and broad lip and long wide horns. The scent is intense, penetrating strong vanilla smell that lingers for a very long time.

Stanhopea tigrina var albescens is another beautiful and unusual orchid for collectors of these unique orchids and it delights with its distinctive appearance and blooms.

Stanhopea embreei

This stanhopea orchid one of the first one’s to flower this season in my collection and it’s another beautiful stanhopea to admire.

Stanhopea embreei native to Ecuador, mostly from the western slopes of Andes. It’s relatively new specie, only been discovered in 1960’s and documented in 1980’s and becoming very popular with collectors.

The color of the the blooms mostly white with yellow centre and darker eyes, with very faint spots on the petals. The flowers are large with distinct fruity and spicy scent that is very strong and lingers for a long time. It’s quite vigorous plant, very generous in developing many new shoots and flower spikes during growing season, thus quickly maturing.

We are right in the middle of summer in our part of the world and hot humid days follow tropical rains and storms, just what these beautiful, special orchids love. New growth everywhere, many of my orchids developing flower spikes at the moment and I’ll be featuring many more of the wonderful varieties, crosses and species of stanhopea’s later on in this blog.

Stanhopea’s – another growing season

Its first month of Spring in our part of the world and fabulous stanhopea orchids started waking up from their rest. As usual, there is a lot of anticipation on my part, being able to see again their beautiful blooms soon.

Each stanhopea growing season brings its own reward for me and again I am looking forward seeing old-favorites in blooms as well as new for me varieties and species. My own collection steadily increasing and I am hopping to feature some more of these magical orchids in this blog.

A lot of my plants started developing flowering spikes already and many of them very busy at the moment growing new leaves and pushing their roots through the planters – one can see new growth everywhere. So, the waiting game begins again…

How does one describe stanhopea orchid’s essence – bold, spectacular, rare, unusual, fascinating, astonishing, beautiful, amazing, majestic, primeval, frustrating, temperamental, capricious, unchanged, uncompromising and confident? But once they start flowering everything is forgotten – just this deep appreciation and honor to be able to share their unique vibrations and the magic of the new flowering season.

Stanhopea Tigrina var nigroviolacea var “Eddon” FCC/AOS

This beautiful stanhopea is one of the special tigrina/nigroviolacea crosses and its variety Eddon”, another late blooming stanhopea orchid for our climate. It finished flowering right at the end of autumn, and with its special blooms extending stanhopea’s flowering season just a little bit further.

It’s a beautiful orchid with large special flowers, its petals are a bit relaxed and free flowing and it’s usually carry two large flowers on each flower spike, concentrating its growing energy in the size and scent of the blooms. It has all the markings of tigrina/nigroviolacea cross with heavenly sweet vanilla/chocolate scent that lingers for a very long time. “Eddon” variety is another stanhopea that delights with its distinctive blooms.

Stanhopea Tigolens “Pembro” – HCC/OSCOV

Here is an introduction to another beautiful stanhopea orchid from my collection – its stanhopea Tigolens “Pembro” – one of the gorgeous crosses between stanhopea Tigrina and stanhopea graveolens. This cross was registered by R Mason in 2002 and regrettably not many plants of this hybrid seen around. This of course is unfortunate, since it’s such a handsome and special stanhopea.

The flowers of this cross are pristine white with many burgundy color marks and spots and large pink colored middle (hypochile) giving a kind of two-tone visual effect. The blooms are large and full and the scent is very strong, sweet unmistakingly vanilla with many pleasant undertones that reminds combination of herbs. In our climate it flowers at the end of stanhopea flowering season, in early autumn.

Stanhopea Tigolens “Pembro” is another stunning addition to any stanhopea orchid collection and I am sure would be appreciated for its rare beauty and form.

Stanhopea Ronsard

This attractive stanhopea from my collection finished flowering not long ago – it’s one of the showy and striking stanhopea hybrids loved and admired by stanhopea collectors and lovers all over the world. Its stanhopea Ronsard and it was crossed by M Lecoufle of France in late 1980’s.

This handsome cross is of wardii x oculata producing intensely fragrant large flowers of beautiful shape, size and color. The blooms are strong yellow color with many maroon spots and large maroon eyes. The scent is very strong, penetrating, sweet and spicy with many pleasant undertones to it.

Another special stanhopea to love and to admire and for stanhopea collector one more majestic orchid to adore.

Stanhopea maculosa

There are number of stanhopea species that are hardly ever seen in nature and even more rarely seen flowering in cultivation. One of them is stanhopea maculosa and this season it’s flowered first time in my collection.

It’s one of the extraordinary stanhopea species, first discovered in the Pacific coast of Mexico back in 1820’s and since then been alluding stanhopea collectors. There are only a small number of stanhopea maculosa in private collections and to see one flowering is an immense privilege and great honor.

The plant is of the small size and flowers are of medium size – my plant only developed one spike with two beautiful flowers. The flowers pastel cream color with many pink colored spots and the scent is intense sweet, reminiscent of apricots.

This specie is for the dedicated collector; it’s prefer to be drier in winter times and dislike being wet in colder temperatures. Its flowering is rather capricious and unpredictable, but when all said and done, and Sun and Earth and Soil and Air and all required elements come together in a specific season, it rewards patient stanhopea grower with its mysterious, magical, primal blooming energy.

Stanhopea Tigrina var Red Devil

This spectacular stanhopea Tigrina var Red Devil been around since 1980’s, however not many plants of this variety seen in cultivation. They are rather rare and it’s unfortunate, since it’s really beautiful and special stanhopea orchid.

It produces one of the biggest size flowers in the stanhopea orchids range and as you can see from the picture, the flowers are full and of generous size, measuring over 26 cm across. The flower spike usually carry only a couple of flowers and my plant developed only one spike with these two huge flowers, almost as if concentrating all of it’s energy on production of these magical blooms.

The color of the flower is pristine white with dark burgundy spots and splashes and the scent is strong, penetrating and heady vanilla that is unmistaken of the tigrina’s range.

This variety is one of the stunning orchids in stanhopea’s world and another variety to love and to admire.