New acquisition: Den. victoria-reginae

[JFeathersmith]

Do/Did you keep your plant potted or on a mount? The lower parts of the stems are so thin I worry about supporting it in an upright way for long. (I know having a BIG plant mounted would also be a challenge, but I figure I have time to plan!)

[katrina]

Mine was mounted when I got it (from Andy's - years ago) but I found I had difficulty keeping it moist enough. I didn't want to pot it up because I liked the natural pendulous habit and thought it would be impossible to keep it staked upright...so I semi-mounted/semi-potted. I put it in a plastic vanda basket but I had the basket on a side-angle and I hung it up. It worked out great! My Mingles is set up in the same pot/mount.

I looked around and couldn't find a pic of my vic...here's a pic of my Mingle's from 3 years ago. It's a bit bigger than this now (naturally) but it gives you a good idea of how the set up looks. Hopefully you can see the black vanda basket - for an idea on size, that is a 6" basket. It's a mix of coco fiber and sphag.



BTW - as much as I loved vic....Mingles is my absolute favorite. It blooms pretty much all year long. Big flushes on and off...constantly. Mingles is a hybrid of vic-reg and ceraula (formerly gonzalesii). D ceraula gives the hybrid more heat tolerance and I find it to be an easier grower than the vic ever was (for me anyway).

[Tindomul]

What a beauty! And the culture you describe is awesome. I take it Mingles takes no rest period?

[katrina]

No real rest...I do let it get a little dry between waterings in the winter months but that's more due to time constraints on my part. It would do equally well if kept more moist in the winter.

Glad you like it, thanks.

[Tindomul]

I like it because it reminds me of my D. sulawesii. Different colour, but nearly same habit and same culture.

[JFeathersmith]

Thanks, Katrina! That sounds like a good way to manage "mounting" the plant. (I think a majority of the media my plant is in right now is coco fiber, or something similar. I didn't do it, it's what the seller had it in.)

Your Mingle's Sapphire is gorgeous! I think it may have been some of your older posts about it that sent me chasing after the vic-reg - I couldn't find any listings online for the Sapphire, and the species looked fairly similar.

[Jeff214]

Wow, Katrina. Stunning.
Great set up with the tilted vanda basket.

[JFeathersmith]

The first bud opened! (About a week ago, but I haven't had time to get photos AND post them until now. Wretched day job!!) And there are about another dozen buds yet to open!