GIANT orchids

[DirtyCoconuts]

I have a thing for big plants..i appreciate the minis and the micros too but i have a special place for MONSTERS

i have always looked for the largest variety or the biggest flower and i have a few that i have become obsessed with. I own several of these but they are NOT cool yet, not by many years.

I wanted to start a discussion to see if anyone else was large orchid obsessed, if anyone else grows them and to find out if there are more giants out there lurking.



my favorites in no order

Phal gigantea
Bulb phalaenopsis
Gram speciosum
Bulb fletcherianum
Arundina graminifolia
Schom grandiflora



other than the Arundina and the Schom, my exemplars are all miniscule but they have potential!


so what are you into? what are you trying to grow and how is it working?

[Leafmite]

Just bought a Phaius this past autumn from Hausermann's. I just love the glorious beast and look forward to it getting even larger and more glorious. Otherwise, I am focusing on small orchids.

As for big plants that are not orchids...that is an entirely different category. I have passionfruit vines, a Theobroma cacao and a bunch of stuff I have to keep pruned so they fit under the lights.

[DirtyCoconuts]

Phaius do get large! Good call. Cymbidiums can as well.

[Roberta]

Grammatophyllum can be a major beast... which is why I don't grow the genus... need more warmth than I have outside, and I'm not about to give over that much greenhouse space to one.

Den spectabile can also become a beast... I don't grow that one for the same reason. (I do have Den speciosum, which grows spectacularly because it does fine in the backyard.)

[Mr.Fakename]

There are some massive plants in the Angraecum family. Eburneum, sesquipedale and their hybrids are just nonsense. Smell fantastic too!

I've seen a few Paph sanderianum and rothschildianum and they're huuuge too.
Paph Lady Rothschild have been on my wishlist since the local greenhouse owner bragged about his. Outstanding plant, beautiful, enormous flowers.

Some "smaller" Phal can grow into unstoppable forces too. Combining keikis and lateral shoots, species like lueddemanniana, schilleriana or bastianii can fill a room in a few years. Bonus points for hieroglyphica : http://phals.net/hieroglyphica/2008/08ph0372.jpg

And if you fancy gigantea, you owe to yourself to get a doweryensis

[DirtyCoconuts]

Fakename i think you are an enabler, sir!!!

[estación seca]

Andy says a lot of the Sobralias can grow as tall as a 2-story building. Selenipedium does too, but I don't know people growing them successfully.

I'm still mourning my Gramm. speciosum.

[Roberta]

Sob. caloglossa gets easily to 15 ft. (5 m). If one has a deck, so that the top of the plant is at eye level, it's a great way to display it. Alas, after or 6 years of growing quite well and blooming at least twice a year, mine died. I suspect that I should have repotted it... but couldn't manage to move it to do so.
Sob. mandonii and Sob. portillae are in the same "not miniature" size category. However, Andy claims that he got a Sob. mandonii into a Prius... took out the stake and it was flexible enough to wind around the interior of the car.

Selenipedium does grow tall like that - a slipper orchid with foliage that looks like a Sobralia. But they are extremely reluctant to grow in cultivation, even in areas where they grow naturally. (When I was in Ecuador, I learned that Ecuagenera had tried to grow them from seed but never had success. They grow only in very limited habitats and so are highly endangered)

[yug]

I would never have thought of Arundina graminifolia as a 'giant' orchid by any stretch of imagination. I can't help but wonder why you would think that.

What about Vandopsis gigantea, or Vandopsis lissochiloides. I've heard some of the Dimorphorchis can get some size, or maybe it is just the inflorescence. Also, vanilla can get quite tall since it is a vine, and will keep growing up the side of a tree no matter how tall until it reaches the canopy, and then bloom, so it is possible to be 80' or more long. As far as paphs go, there is a Paph. gigantea, but I don't know much about it.

[DirtyCoconuts]

I am using a totally random and subjective measure, my height. I’m 6’4” if the orchid is larger than I am, I am calling that a giant.

My bamboo orchid is well over my head so I call it giant.

There is nothing scientific about this, I assure you