Coelogyne cristata (first bloom) :)

[kavanaru]

This is a species I wanted to have since I was a little kid and saw it for the first time in the garden books my mother had. Maybe because of the beauty of the flowers and the impssibility of getting in the region of Venezuela where I grew up. Then I moved to Europe, but was always a bit "afraid" of not being able to grow this species...

so... Last year (April, 2007) I decided to buy 2 NFS plants to test my growing conditions. One of them have in the unheated "conservatory" (actually, just a glass-closed balcony ) until end of November (lowest registered temp in the conservatory: 8ºC, and then moved into the apartment (average temp. 20ºC). This plant have just opened 3 out of 4 flowers



the other plant has spent most of the winter in the "conservatory" with temps going down to 3ºC. I brought inside two weeks ago and the two spikes are starting to grow (one is aprox. 6 cm long and the other is 12 cm)