Stanhopea oculata x self (Brazil)

Stanhopea oculata x self (Brazil)

This specie is one of the largest in the whole stanhopea tribe with so many variations and probably in the future should be split into many sub-groups.
The native growing area encompasses from Mexico through Central America to Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil. Due to such a vast area of native growing oculata orchids can differ immensely in colors, size, fragrance,  even pollinators. If one adds to it natural hybrids, native back-crosses etc - oculata specie as it stands now always showing very high degree of variability.

This stanhopea oculata plant came to me some years ago labeled oculata x self ( Brazil )  and I’ve been very interested seeing it’s flowers. This season it bloomed and I love the coloring and the structure of the flowers.  The scent is very sweet with a lot of cinnamon in the background and the plant itself is of the medium size.

Brazilian oculata is rather rare and it gives me great pleasure to see this beauty in blooms this season.

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

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 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 oculata x jenischiana

Stanhopea oculata x jenischiana1

Stanhopea oculata x jenischiana 2

Stanhopea oculata x jenischiana 3

Here is an introduction to a beautiful new stanhopea cross of oculata x  jenischiana. It have very colorful blooms of deep rich yellow with many many dark burgundy colored spots all over the flowers.

I’ve had this stanhopea’s seedling for a while, patiently waiting for it to mature and to finally show it’s beauty - because of an outstanding parentage it promised to be a spectacular cross, but of course one does know until it flowers and this one did not disappoint.

The plant is of medium size, yet the flowers are large and showy, it sends out a number of flower spikes during it’s growing season and the blooms have very sweet, fruity scent that resembles cherry/ black currants/apricots - an absolute delight!
Another beautiful stanhopea orchid for my ever growing collection.