Pictures of the beautiful stanhopea orchids

Our flowering stanhopea season now is over, now I have to wait until next year to see these majestic blooms again. I still have a lot of pictures to feature in this blog for all the Friends of Stanhopea orchids.

Stanhopea posadarum1

 

Stanhopea posadarum2

Stanhopea inodora alba1

Stanhopea inodora alba2

Stanhopea hernandezii 1

Stanhopea hernandexii2

Stanhopea impressa

Stanhopea impressa1

Stanhopea impressa2

Stanhopea impressa3

 

Not long ago one of my stanhopea impressa plants decided to bloom, I’ve been waiting for a while to see it’s beautiful flowers.
It’s first was described and documented in 1898 by Rolfe, It’s native to a few selective areas of western slopes of the Andes of Ecuador and in a small area of southern Colombia and grows in a very wet forests.

Flowers are large and full , white/yellow color with many red spots on the petals and the scent is strong herbal/ spicy with smell of basil and rosemary and many other strong herbs. Piercing kind of smell, without any sweetness to it.

The plant is strong and robust and grows quite quickly providing it’s watering requirements met, otherwise it refusing to flower - it likes copious amount of water during it’s growing season.

Another beautiful stanhopea for anyone who appreciates these special orchids.

Beautiful stanhopea’s blooms

Incredible flowers, complex intricate structure, heady strong complicated scents - may only flower for a few days but they more interesting in that short time than many other orchids that last for weeks. Nature’s special creations…

Stanhopea tigrina var nigro var "Eddon" 1

Stanhopea embreei1

 

Stanhopea Wetley Secret1

Stanhopea Wetley Secret2

Stanhopea embreei 2

 

 

Stanhopea tigrina var nigro var "Eddon" 2

 

 

 

 

Stanhopea ruckeri x nigroviolacea

Stanhopea ruckeri x nigroviolacea1

Stanhopea ruckeri x nigroviolacea

Some time ago a dear friend of ours crossed these two stanhopea orchids - (ruckeri x nigroviolacea) and gave us a few small seedlings. They been growing and maturing, getting stronger and bigger last number of years and finally they flowered this season.

It’s a beautiful cross with large showy flowers, very strong, robust plant that produced number of flower spikes with three blooms on each spike. The background colour is creamy/white with many many dark burgundy spots and marks with darker middle. The scent is very complicated with initial vanilla and then strong perfume of herbs and spices takes over.

Because of our hot and humid weather at the time of flowering, most of my pictures were taken very early in the morning, as the flowers were unfolding.

We are very grateful to him for creating such beautiful cross that will be welcomed in any stanhopea collection by many stanhopea growers and anyone who appreciate these magical orchids.

Stanhopea gibbosa

Stanhopea gibbosa 1

Stanhopea gibbosa 2

Stanhopea gibbosa 3

Stanhopea gibbosa 4

Stanhopea gibbosa 5

My stanhopea gibbosa finished it’s seasonal flowering not long ago and it’s a delight to see this beauty in bloom.

It’s one of the oldest stanhopea species, first described in Gardener’s Chronicle in 1869 by Reichenbach from plant collector Veitch from Chelsea who imported many plants and orchids into Europe at that time. Stanhopea gibbosa is a beautiful stanhopea , very distinct in it’s colouring and deserves it’s place in any stanhopea collection.

The flowers are of creamy colour with many purple dots all over the blooms and it have darker colour eyes, the scent is very strong herbal/spicy and stays around for a long time, there is no sweetness to the scent - just sharp, bold, strong combination of many spices and herbs, complicating and overpowering.

The plant is of medium size yet the flowers are large and full. Because of our hot and humid weather I had to take pictures of gibbosa very early in the morning, just as the flowers started opening up.

The cultivation of this stanhopea can be a bit tricky, because it have it’s own requirements - it’s native to Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama and can be found mostly in very wet forests, often close or straight above open water and require copious amount of moisture during it’s growing season.

I am delighted to see this beautiful stanhopea in bloom and as usual marvel at the Nature creating this special orchid.

Stanhopea jenischiana Carlyle

Stanhopea jenischiana Carlyle1

Stanhopea jenischiana Carlyle2

Here is very special stanhopea  jenischiana variety Carlyle from my collection that just finished it’s flowering season. It’s very beautiful jenischiana with colorful, striking appearance, it came to me as small, unflowered seedling and I’ve been waiting for a while to see it’s blooms.

For some reason, jenischiana’s have have this “difficult to bloom” reputation and over the years I’ve heard so many stories from many fellow stanhopea growers about keeping it almost bone-dry to induce flowering, not giving it fertilizer or positioning it in full sun  - none of them sat well with me for a simple reason that this specie mostly native to Cauca valley in Colombia and one small isolated population in southern Equador near Pinas where it grows in a very wet mountain forests so my plants get plenty of feed, plenty of water and shady, filtered light.

The flowers of jenischiana Carlyle have rich, striking colouring of deep, buttery orange with many many dark burgundy spots and the scent is very sweet with many herbal and spicy undertones  - one can smell clove, nutmeg, cinnamon wrapped in sweetness and it lingers around for a long time.
 It’s very special stanhopea to love and to admire and to reflect on the Nature producing this beautiful orchid.

Stanhopea xytriophora

Stanhopea xytriophora 1

Stanhopea xytriophora 2

This special and very rare stanhopea just finished it’s flowering season and it gave me a great pleasure to see this beauty in bloom. It’s one of the rarest species in the stanhopea orchids range and not many plants of stanhopea xytriophora around, making it very desired stanhopea for any serious collector.

 Stanhopea xytriophora specie was first documented by Reichenbach in 1868 - he received unknown orchid from Peru, studied it and gave it it’s current name - xytriophora and for a while no more plants of this specie was collected. Later on, in 1921, in 1958, in 1965 this specie was mentioned in some publications by various collectors, including Barney Greer in 1998. My plant is one of the plants from his collection that I treasure.

 It’s beautiful stanhopea with white/creamy medium size flowers, red eyes and many red spots on the petals with very strong, piercing scent of spices - there is no sweetness to the scent - just strong, spicy smell that lingers for a long time. The plant itself is of medium size and it’s rather a slow grower that perhaps will test the patience of any stanhopea collector because it’s flowering cycle truly left for the Nature to sort out  - stanhopea xytriophora flowering have it’s own timing and rhythm and all one can do just go with it. And then to enjoy it’s special, rare blooms.

New growing season in full swing

My beautiful stanhopea orchids flowering at the moment - many already showcasing their special, majestic blooms and many sending out new flower spikes to bloom later in the season. This year our weather is rather trying here in Sydney - very very hot and very very humid conditions making the major task watering and misting of all of my plants making sure they all receive the attention they require.

If you been growing stanhopea's for a while you will know that every growing season is different, each presenting different challenges and one learns to adapt to Nature because it's flowering time for stanhopea's.
Of course, in this heat the blooms don't last as long as one wants and pictures have to be taken very early in the morning as flowers just opening up and there are many other small adjustments required to bring the plants to it's optimum flowering stage, but all of them really just for one goal - after full year to see beautiful stanhopea's bloom once again, to greet old time favorites, to welcome new species and varieties and to experience and to glimpse at the Essence of Stanhopea's orchids.

Stanhopea Memoria Paul Allen

Stanhopea Tigrina var nigroviolacea var “Eddon” FCC/AOS

 

 

Stanhopea costaricensis “Patsy”

Stanhopea devoniensis x Assidensis