Pink blush on an almost fluorescent yellow-green background

Phal. Sweet Memory 'Bubbles'

Along with heavy substance and spectacular shading, this Phal.violacea hybrid has wonderful fragrance.

Deep gold background with red veins. Dramatic and rich.

Intense purple-red.

Phal. Suziana Wijanto 'East Bay' x Ana Hernandez 'Pamela's Stripe'

Rather unusual star shape and dramitic striping makes this one rather special.

There is no true red pigment in Phals, but breeders are getting very close, and this has a wonderful soft red color that is really a light purple overlaid on a gold bacground.

Large, flat, bright spotted flowers.

Phal. amabalis var formosanum

These flowers are dainty and delicate looking. The spike has a tendency to branch, making for a beautiful display.

This plant produces one flower at a time over a period of months and even years, on a wire-like spike that can be 4' (120 cm) or more. Don't cut the spike on these until it dies all the way back - it will re-bloom. Also, do not over-water- it likes to be on the dry side.

C. guatamalensis

This is actually not a species, but rather a natural hybrid between C. aurantiaca and C. skinerii. It seems to grow better inside, with bright light. It had dead-looking sheaths, which I had trimmed after they were dry for 6 months for one and about a year for the other. Much to my surprise, I found buds emerging about 2 months ago! I am glad that I did not cut any more!. Because they did not have a full sheath to lend strength to the raecemes, I did have to provide some support - otherwise, no harm done by the trimming, and may have prevented rot.

This plant produces flowers successively. The flower falls off while still perfectly formed (and will survive a few more days in water), then another one opens within a week or so. I have found that while this plant will grow outside in the summer, it seems happier indoors with the Phalaenopsis, as long as I keep it damp.

These little flowers have a strong fragrance of coconut.

The picture does not do the color justice - this is a very dark, velvelty purple dendrobium phalaenopsis hybrid. It grows in a sunny window.

A member of this genus, native to Madagascar, served to support Darwin's theory of natural selection. The flower has a distinctive long spur, and Darwin predicted that it was pollinated by a moth with a very long tongue. 20 years later, that moth was discovered, and Darwin's prediction proven correct. The flowers are fragrant at night.

This beauty, with its very textured lip and blue-purple color, seems to like to be very damp. It grows in sphagnum, in a hanging pot. It has been blooming on and off since I got it in February. It is has put out new growth, and new growths have bloomed several times since it came to live at my house.

Identification of this plant is in doubt - it did not have a tag. It came from the collection of the late Gordon Clayton, who grew wonderful Paphs and Phrags, and was a beautiful human being as well. I hope to be able to do justice to this plant. Its beauty and vigor are not in doubt at all. It produces one flower after another. While some Phrags are marginally OK outside in the winter, this one is definitely better off inside. Since it does not need alot of light, I grow it inside with the Phals.

Cirropetalum makoyanum

Cirropetalums are actually part of the genus Bulbophylum. They do well on mounts, or in wood baskets (where this one lives). The flowers only last for a few days, but they send out new ones every few months.

Dendrobium platycaulon

This Dendrobium has strange, flattened pseudobulbs. It seems to grow well with the Phals. The flowers hang under the leaves. It bloomed in October, then put out a completely new set of flowers in late December.