Phalaenopsis violacea var. alba

I do not grow but a couple of Phalaenopsis since I have neither the room nor the conditions for them.  The couple I do grow are not in my orchidarium but on a bathroom windowsill.  This is one of them, Phalaenopsis violacea var. alba, a variety without the usual purple markings of this species.  It is from Sumatra and Malaysia and blooms consecutively on stems that continue to lengthen for years.  It is not only very beautifully colored, in my opinion, but has a wonderful fragrance on warm summer days.  The plant can become very large with broad flat leaves, but the flowers are around 4 cm.

Dendrobium Flower Baby

Dendrobium Flower Baby is another hybrid of Dendrobium cuthbertsonii, this with Dendrobium victoria-reginae, a species with thin canes.  The flowers resemble that species also but the plant size has been much reduced and the canes have turned to thick upright pseudobulbs.  The plant (now) is 9 cm tall and the flowers 3 cm.  This, however, is a seedling blooming for the first time and the plant and flowers may be larger on a subsequent blooming.  It will probably have more flowers on subsequent bloomings also.

Homalopetalum pumilio

Homalopetalum pumilio is a tiny species from Mexico and Central America and is related to Cattleya.  The plant with its tiny pseudobulbs and leaves is only 2 cm tall.  They grow in succession and each growth produces one flower.  The flowers dwarf the plant at 4 cm, though flower size varies considerably with the plants from Mexico having larger flowers than those from Central America.  The flowers from the Mexican cersion are also more white than the green flowers from Central America.

Promenaea stapelioides

The Promenaeas are all cool growing, lower light species from Brazil.  This species, my favorite, is named for its flowers' resemblance to the flowers of a Stapelia plant.  The plant is 8 cm tall with bluish-green leaves, small pseudobulbs and large 4 cm flowers.  I grow it in live sphagnum in a plastic net pot and keep it moist with high humidity.

Dendrobium cuthbertsonii x glomeratum

This is another unregistered hybrid of Dendrobium cuthbertsonii, this with Dendrobium glomeratum, a large cane-type Dendrobium, also from New Guinea, as is Dendrobium cuthbertsonii.  Like most such hybrid it is much easier to grow than the parents and is more temperature tolerant.  It has huge flowers, 4 cm long on a plant that is only 10 cm tall.

Dendrobium cuthbertsonii bicolor

Dendrobium cuthbertsonii is a plant I've posted many times.  The flowers come in a rainbow of colors and I have many different plants of this choice species.  This is one of my favorites with huge and beautiful bi-colored flowers.  It is also a smaller plant as this species goes.  None of them are large but some form a creeping mat while others have tiny upright growths.  This is more the creeping type.  The species is from New Guinea and requires cool temperatures and high humidity.