Dendrobium speciosum (It's spring!)

[Roberta]

My Den. speciosums are starting to put on a show, about 2-3 weeks later than usual. I attribute it to a cool winter preceded by a cool summer and fall. The big one on the right is Den. speciosum var. speciosum. The white one in back is a cross of Den speciosum var. hillii 'Don Brown ' (a huge plant) x Den. speciosum var. curvicale (the most compact form) The one with all the buds is a primary hybrid of Den. speciosum x Den. (big) x Den. gracilicaule (miniature) to give a reasonably-sized plant with lots of flowers. I'll post that one when it blooms, probably in a week or two.

[OrchidBro]

Lovely! How long have you had those?

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by OrchidBro

Lovely! How long have you had those?

The bigger one I got at a society auction about 20 years ago. (somebody broke up a monster, I suspect) The white one about 10 years.

The primary hybrid not yet in bloom I have had for 15 years, got it as a seedling - much faster-growing than the straight speciosums.

These do really, really well in southern California. At spring shows there are some very large (occasionally huge) ones.

[OrchidBro]

Well they all look wonderful and thank you for the answer!

[Dollythehun]

Amazing Roberta! As always! But WAIT, do I see something orange in the first picture that might not be an orchid?! Gasp! What might that be?

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

Amazing Roberta! As always! But WAIT, do I see something orange in the first picture that might not be an orchid?! Gasp! What might that be?

Mandarins... I have a really, really prolific tree. Size of oranges but more flavor. Nice thing about them is that they stay on the tree, ripe, for months, I'll be eating them and making my morning OJ until June.

[philiplowrey]

How much light do you give yours Roberta? I'm just south of you in SD, and mine put out pseudobulbs like crazy, but no blooms for the last 2 years... btw, I appreciate all of the info you've put online over the years. I've read so many articles/posts that you've written on various boards/web-pages, and it's really helped me.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by philiplowrey

How much light do you give yours Roberta? I'm just south of you in SD, and mine put out pseudobulbs like crazy, but no blooms for the last 2 years... btw, I appreciate all of the info you've put online over the years. I've read so many articles/posts that you've written on various boards/web-pages, and it's really helped me.

Thanks!

I have one (var. grandiflorum) that is on the shady side and blooms anyway. But the others didn't do much in that spot. Now they are in an area that gets full sun most of the day in summer, a few hours in winter but open sky. In another month or so I will put up shade cloth because otherwise I toast leaves at mid-day. So they can take a lot, but can burn if they don't get a little mid-day protection in summer. Ideal, is just short of burning (probably about 5000 ft. candles... Cymbidium/L. anceps light)

[smweaver]

All of your plants look great. I especially like the flowers on the variety speciosum plant. And this might seem like a minor point (although I don't think it is), but all of the leaves on the plants look really good. It's a little disheartening to see photos of speciosums with beautiful spikes of blooms, and the plants themselves looking like they've been baked in the middle of the Mojave: sun-bleached blotches, blackened areas, etc. Yours, by contrast, appear to be exceptionally health and well cared for. Congrats on both flowers and wonderful-looking plants.

Steve

[philiplowrey]

Got it, thank you!