Your Favorite Orange Orchid!

[Plantcrazed101]

Hi y'all,

I realized that of the 400 or so plants in my apartment, I have the fewest blooms in orange. Also, orange is only found in a the foliage of a handful of houseplants, so I'm wondering what y'alls favorite orange blooming orchids are!

I only have a few orange orchids as of right now, but I'm hoping to get some neon orange, fragrant orchids in the future! Some ones I've got my eye on are Dendrobium unicum and an orange Vanda that's a pretty penny on eBay.

I also expect most of my orchids to be fragrant. They have to make up for my non-fragrant african violets.

I am growing Psychopsis, the orange blooming and mottled leaf variety, and I love it! Also I'm growing a Brassada but it's a seedling so I'll be waiting half my life for it to bloom. Then lastly I've got a couple Phal that are orange-ish.

[AnonYMouse]

Not exactly orange, more of an orange with pink blush...Ascocentrum Mona Church (miniatum x ampullaceum).

My blooming sized one has bloomed twice in ~10 months with a new spike on the way. Very easy in bright shade (white-washed east window), intermediate temps. Not fragrant.

I have both parents (miniatums are orange as are most ampullaceums) but I find them harder to grow. Asctm. garayi is a yellower orange (no experience with this one).

[jkofferdahl]

I honestly can't think of a single orange orchid among mine. Interesting.

[Roberta]

In species, try Ada aurantiaca, and Stenocoryne aureo-fulva. Also Maxillaria sophronitis (more red than orange) None of these are fragrant, however. If the pollinator is hummingbirds, then fragrance is not important - in general, the brightest colors tend to not be fragrant... their pollinators use visual cues.

I suspect that you can't get enough light indoors, but there's lots of color in the rupiculous Laelias. Again, no fragrance.

[jcec1]

Oncidopsis Nelly Isler 'Orange', I grow the standard red version of this, so can't vouch for how orange it is. I guess it should be fragrant like the standard one though.

[Fairorchids]

Take a look at:

Epidendrum vitellinum, Encyclia vitellina & Prostechea vitellina (all same species, it has been moved by taxonomists several times). It is a cool grower though.

Phragmipedium bessea, some are more orange than red. Again, a plant that is not as easy to grow as some of the other species in the genus.

There are a number of standard Cymbidium hybrids (again cool growers), which fall into the orange color range.

There are a lot of orange mini & compact Cattleya hybrids, but due to the variation in seed populations, you need to buy it in bloom. Alternatively, you can buy a meristem, where the color is known.

I just got a shipment in, where one lot is orange (but I don't know whether it is fragrant, as I have not bloomed them yet). See photo attached. It has Cattleya (Guarianthe) aurantiaca as a grand parent, so it produces many smallish flowers on the spike.

[Subrosa]

Dendrobium unicum is among my most reliable orchids. It grows well and blooms every summer.

[DeaC]

Originally Posted by Fairorchids

Take a look at:

Epidendrum vitellinum, Encyclia vitellina & Prostechea vitellina (all same species, it has been moved by taxonomists several times). It is a cool grower though.

Phragmipedium bessea, some are more orange than red. Again, a plant that is not as easy to grow as some of the other species in the genus.

There are a number of standard Cymbidium hybrids (again cool growers), which fall into the orange color range.

There are a lot of orange mini & compact Cattleya hybrids, but due to the variation in seed populations, you need to buy it in bloom. Alternatively, you can buy a meristem, where the color is known.

I just got a shipment in, where one lot is orange (but I don't know whether it is fragrant, as I have not bloomed them yet). See photo attached. It has Cattleya (Guarianthe) aurantiaca as a grand parent, so it produces many smallish flowers on the spike.

Congrats on 'Peach Kisses' in Orchids mag.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Potinara Elizabeth Palmer 'Sun Bulb'. Concolor orange, "floofy" but not excessively so, flowers 4+ inches across, very fragrant (to me they smell like roses). Reliable bloomer, vigorous plant.

Sorry, no photo handy, mine is spiking and should bloom in January sometime.

[bil]

I have this one, no name it was bought in one of the garden centres here. Possibly called phoenix, it looks like a slim Den Nobile.