Epidendrum ellipticum - it keeps going, and going ...

[WhiteRabbit]

species from Brazil and Paraguay

Perpetually in bloom!

This one, in a 4" pot, has 25 spikes, plus a couple of keikis with spikes.

I posted this one in November, with 18 spikes at the time. Epidendrum ellipticum Those spikes are still blooming, plus 7 more! (as well as the two keiki spkes)

This has been very temperature tolerant, is very happy with sun for much of the day in summer (could probably take sun all day). It grows outdoors year-round here in zone 9, sheltered from frost, freeze, cold night rain in winter. This winter, due to the unfortunate lack of rain here, I was able to leave it in a spot that gets more sun than it would have gotten otherwise, so it only just slightly slowed down in blooming.

The tallest cane is about 12" -I forgot to measure the spike length - some, that have already been blooming a while, are quite long, altho, some stop blooming from the tip after a while, but then start budding up from the node just beneath where the first buds appeared.

Blooms are about 1/2".

Thanks for looking

[RosieC]

Wow, really cool. Look a really happy plant!

[katrina]

Ahhhhh...to be able to grow outside year round. It's beautiful and clearly very, very happy.

[Fairorchids]

Just bought a few of these, which are just starting to bloom. Happy to see that they stay compact; and that larger plants bloom year round.

[isurus79]

That's pretty cool you can have it growing outside all year round. Any chance of mounting a piece of this one on a tree?

[tuvoc]

Super cool.

Kim

[WhiteRabbit]

Thank you all!

Steve - I don't know about mounting on a tree - we do get a few nights of frost or light freeze ... But, I may try a keiki, or small piece at some time - what the heck, eh?

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by WhiteRabbit

Thank you all!

Steve - I don't know about mounting on a tree - we do get a few nights of frost or light freeze ... But, I may try a keiki, or small piece at some time - what the heck, eh?

Heck ya! Your plant is big enough to slice off a small peice and run an experiment with!

[WhiteRabbit]

Originally Posted by isurus79

Heck ya! Your plant is big enough to slice off a small peice and run an experiment with!

yeah, it's trying to break out of it's pot now - just the last time I repotted (after it had literally broke out of it's pot), all the spikes died, even with me trying to not disturb the roots - but, it will need to be done, regardless, pretty soon

[Fairorchids]

The young plants I got in Feb were spiking, but not in bloom. I repotted them in March, and that did not negatively affect those spikes.