Stanhopea intermedia

Stanhopea intermedia1

I am delighted to see this specie in flower this season. It came to me some time ago and  I’ve been patiently waiting for it to bloom.

It’s one of extra ordinary stanhopea’s that is so difficult to find and even rare to see blooming and it have very colorful history.

 It was first imported in 1885 by orchid collector Wolter from Germany together with other stanhopea species from Mexico. From his collection, one of the stanhopea intermedia plants was given to the orchid collection of the Botanical Garden of St.Petersburg in Russia. The plant took it’s time to flower and finally bloomed in 1896 for the first time. Only in 1898 it was inspected, studied, documented and named as new specie stanhopea intermedia by J C Klinge based in that plant in St.Petersburg. The fate of the remaining plants in Germany is unknown.

Stanhopea intermedia2

Stanhopea intermedia native to Mexico’s slopes of the Pacific side of the Sierra and it’s very rare orchid, not often seen. In my life I have seen a few stanhopea intermedia  plants in some other private collections, but they were yet to flower, so one could not be sure unless one can see it blooming, and this season my own plant sent out flower spike that I have nurtured.

For anyone trying to bloom this specie I can only relate my own personal experience - at the time it bloomed with me, we had very hot and humid summer. It wanted copious amount of water, but really enjoyed when we had days of stormy, raining weather. It’s totally dislikes any form of sunlight, the darker the better seems to be for this specie so it’s been moved around greenhouse a lot in an attempt to shade it even from average light.

The scent of stanhopea intermedia is complex, with many layers - one can smell initial strong herb/spices notes and then very strong sweetness, reminiscent of something like heavy rose oil. Very unusual combination of perfume for stanhopea.

This specie demands attention in cultivation and may or may not be for a casual stanhopea grower, but for someone who exhibit dedication and persistence it will reveal it’s beauty, rarity and special place created by Nature.

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

 

 

 

 

Embreea rodigasiana

Huge flowers, mysterious heavy scent reminiscent of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove, dramatic color and structure of the blooms and a very close relative of stanhopea’s - this is embreea rodigasiana.

Until 1980’s it was part of stanhopea’s range and then been re-classified in the specie of it’s own.

This one is not an easy orchid to bring to flower - it demands huge amount of water during it’s growing cycle and strongly dislike change of temperature, making it really difficult during our winter time to look after it properly. If it’s growing requirements not met completely  it just refusing to flower - a lot to do with it’s natural habitat of hot, misty, clouded forests of  Colombia and Ecuador.

I am forever learning with this one, trying to find the best conditions for it’s growing and blooming cycle, don’t mind the challenge because the rewards are huge - seeing this dramatic looking orchid in bloom and smelling it’s mysterious scent I can more appreciate Nature for creating such beauty.

Embreea rodigasiana 1

Emreea rodigasiana 2

Embreea rodigasiana 3

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.