Longest blooming orchids?

[jetflair]

So I'm new to orchids. My collection currently consists of 12 phals from Trader Joe's. I've been choosing phals because I think they're pretty, and I've read they have the longest bloom time in general.

Trader Joe's orchids I've been choosing because I can pick out a flashy in-bloom plant in person for under ten dollars.

I also just ordered two from First Rays, my first non-phals, simply because I liked them and they are affordable and epiphytes: Amesiella monticola and Epidendrum centropetalum.

However, I just read a mention on this board that Dendrobium antennatum can flower almost year round, and that got me wondering. What other orchids are showy and bloom for a long time?

[oceans0516]

Psychopsis and Paphiopedilum Pinocchio are sequential bloomers known to bloom for a long time. I have recently purchased them and I can't wait for them to bloom!

[Subrosa]

The individual flowers of some Oxyglossum Dendrobium species last several months.

[theloyalplum]

I've heard Latouria Dendrobiums and Spatulata Dendrobiums have easy care and long bloom times. I only own a spatulata hybrid and it's been in bloom for a good 2 months now with no signs of dropping.

[bil]

Hard cane Dens, the den/phla cross are pretty hardy in my experience, they flowered for me last year for 6 months solid,and less than two months after the last flower dropped they started to throw new spikes. I pot them in wide pots about 14 inches wide and about 4 inches deep in fine bark, nothing else.

I figure that when they are up to a dozen canes to a pot, they will look incredible.

[Fairorchids]

You have to define whether you mean:
Longest lived individual flower (Dendrobium cuthbersonii, abt 10 months).
Plant in continuous bloom.

The mentioned Dendrobium needs cool conditions and high humidity (cloud forest conditions). It is not an easy plant to grow.

There are a number of candidates for the latter. In many cases it is a question of growing the plant to a certain size, Some candidates are:

Several species & primary hybrid Phalaenopsis will bloom repeatedly on same spike, just like Psychopsis and Paph Pinochio (and its parent species).

Reed stem Epidendrums. Some species tend to grow very tall, but Epi ellipticum is a miniature, which quickly grows to specimen size in a small pot.

Some of the newer mini Cattleya hybrids with a lot of Sophronitis coccinea can bloom 2-3 times a year. When they grow large enough, they will be in bloom almost continuously, as they tend to bloom as soon as each new growth is large enough.

[MattWoelfsen]

Thanks Fairorchids for this summary. I learned something!

[PaphMadMan]

Sequential flowering Paphiopedilum like the hybrid Pinocchio, and species like primulinum and glaucophyllum, can be in almost continuous bloom for a year or more, indefinitely really. The longest I have seen was 27 months, but that only ended because I cut that spike. Typically, one flower opens per month on each spike and lasts until just about the time the next flower opens, and a large plant can have multiple spikes in bloom at once. Not the biggest or showiest flowers you will see, but at least that one spot of color among the green.

[tarev]

I got my first latouria dendrobium this Feb 2015 during the Pacific orchid expo, called Dendrobium Roy Tokunaga 'Spots'. It was in bloom then, and still in bloom this June, it just dropped one bloom in Feb maybe it was getting used to our place, but after that, just going strong and making new canes too.



And agree with Phals, they do bloom a long time, mine lasts for 6 months and sometimes it even makes a secondary spike, so at times almost a year in bloom.

[jetflair]

Wow, thanks for all the responses, guys! One thing googling photos of all of these has shown me is how rigid my perception of what an orchid looks like is. A number of them had me scratching my head in "That doesn't look like and orchid."

I like the spatulata dendrobiums, Epi ellipticum, and I LOVE Sophronitis coccinea! Mentions of mini hybrids made from it fascinate me because I love the mini phals I have. More orchids in less space! Going to go obsessively google now. Any favorites?

I didn't think I liked the latouria dendrobiums from my google search, but tarev ...your Roy Tokunaga is stunning! Opinion changed.