My favourite orchid blooming and some other stuff

Rhynchostylis gigantea

Rhynchostylis gigantea is my absolute favourite orchid. I bought my first one from Van Rooyen Orchids several years ago. It was not quite flowering size when it arrived but it was in good condition and it adapted very well to my greenhouse and general growing conditions. It has flowered twice now and its leaves are long and robust. For a warm growing species it seems to be very tolerant of the winter climate down here in the Cape as long as you take care when watering to ensure no water ends up in the crown. I have a few others of this species now dotted about but they are still not mature enough to flower. Flower colour is variable in this species and a pure white and a red form are available as well as different splash colours. My old faithful is a common variety with pink markings on a white to cream background. This species has been hybridised with (as seed parent): Acampe, Aerides, Holcoglossum, Vanda and Phalaenopsis, (as pollen parent): Aerides, Arachnis, Holcoglossum, Luisia, Pelatantheria, Renanthera, Papilionanthe, Phalaenopsis, Sarcochilus, Trichoglottis and Vanda. These are just the true genera listed here, not the countless other hybrids crossed with this species that are registered. Interesting that there are no registered crosses with African Vandeae like Aeranthes, Aerangis, Agraecum, Cyrtorchis, Mystacidium etc. Maybe it is time to experiment...
 

Paphiopedilum insigne

In addition to my Rhynchostylis gigantea flowering, I also have a Paphiopedilum insigne in flower. I am not particularly fond of paphs. They don't really appeal to my sense of what an orchid should look like. That said they do have charm, albeit a sort of ugly charm.

 

Habenaria rhodocheila protocorms

My Habenaria rhodocheila protocorms are doing well since they were re-plated onto BM-1 with pineapple. They are shooting well now and hopefully in the next few months they should begin to start putting down tubers.