Phal. schilleriana or Phal. violacea?
 

After lots of thought and reoganizing my growing space, I have decided to buy a new phal.

My next phal. should be a species, fragrant and different aesthetically than my phal hybrids.

I choose the plant for the following reasons:

Phal violacea - fragrant, bluish flower color, different blooming season than the rest of my phal. and looks very unique.

Phal. schilleriana - very good amount of bloom, the leaves look very diferent and fragrant.

Since i have never even seen the real plants of both species and none of the orchid retailer in Shanghai knows about growing orchid I need to turn to the experienced experts in this forum. I have several questions:

1) which one is more fragrant?

2) which one is hardier and easier to rebloom?

3) How big can it grow? I have limited space.

4) any special growing needs that i need to know for these two species?

Thanks

I'm not an experienced grower, but I do have about 20 phals and have managed to do well by them-- well enough to get them to repeat bloom and grow. So this is my experience.

1. Schills can be fragrant but its been my experience its inconsistent. I do have some hybrids that come from violacea and all are intensely fragrant in the morning and then again in the evening (not during the hot part of the day or during the long hours of the night).

2. I haven't the slightest idea. My schill grows like a weed in hydroton and my violacea hybrids do just as well.

3. This is purely a guess based on what I've witnessed with my plants, but my schill is getting quite big. The violacea hybrids came big but did not get bigger under my care (leaf width and length)-- but my schill is becoming a monster.

4. My schill supposedly requires a bit of a lower temp than hybrids do to spike, so I've been told. I'm not convinced. It spiked along side all of my other phals, including the violacea hybrids. It has been my experience that the violacea's enjoyed a bit more light than the others and the schill seems to do best in the shader spots.

I'm sorry I could not be more help. As with many things, there are no clear answers-- but for fragrance alone, I'd go with the violacea. They don't have the neat patterns on their leaves, but mine are often multi-colored-- such as red tips fading to light green and then darker green at the base-- their foliage its quite attractive, I think.

Good luck in your choice!

Ryan's reply is correct.

Schilleriana may or may not be fragrant depending on the individual plant. I am fortunate that mine is fragrant and smells just like roses. Of the 2 of them, I would say violacea is more fragrant.

In my experience they both seem easy to grow and bloom.

Schilleriana can get really big. Violacea can get big too, but mine seems to stay smaller than schilleriana.

I grow my plants like the rest of my Phals and they seem to do just fine.

Susan

i'd go for violaceas (and bellinas too!)... you can never have to many of them... looks exotic too! and there are many many colours to choose from!

Thank you all for the advice. I was surprised that most of you grow schill so big. I always thought that violacea grows bigger. I also have a monster size phal hybrid with over 30cm leaf span and I am having trouble to find a good spot for winter care. How big is the leaf span for violacea?

Does violacea flower in the late spring and summer only? If so, what is the condition that initiate flowering?

Speaking of bellinas i discovered that the shop offered those too. After a little diggin on the net, i realize that violacea and belina have different fragrance. Could i be adviced on the type of fragrance and which fragrance is generally better?

My violacea hybrids spiked late in Autumn and broke first flower in April and has only recently finished opening all of her main buds.

My schill's leaves are 9 inches or nearly 23 cm long. My violacea hybrids are around 8 inches or about 20 cm. My violacea are more mature than my schill which is only two years old. Hope that helps.

I grow both, and love both. To me, the individual violacea flower is more exciting, more exotic. However, schilleriana is a show-off, producing some magnificent displays when the plant is mature. I wouldn't want to be without either one in my collection! But to my answers:

1. violacea is the more fragrant; schilleriana may or may not be fragrant. To my nose, the scent of violacea is nicer, too.

2. Both are reasonably hardy, but for me the schilleriana is a complete no-brainer. Mine grow like weeds no matter what I do. They are also easier for me to rebloom, though seem to like a bit more of a temperature dip than violacea to initiate the spike.

3. With limited space, violacea is your best choice. They'll hit a certain size and then stop, but schilleriana seems almost like a fish in that they seem to grow larger as long as they are alive (though I know they don't). A schilleriana can get quite large, even though it can bloom when it's still relatively small.

4. As I mentioned in 2, schilleriana seems to need a slight bit more of a temperature variance to initiate the bloom, though I've yet to have one of mine miss a blooming season. Other than that, both are fairly easy to grow even for Phals, and don't need any type of care other than what you give your other Phals.

sorry i am more into bellinas as i like their shape. however, my bellinas seems to have slightly different smells on different plant, even though to me they all smell quite lemony. but don't trust my nose, its stuffy most of the time!

any idea if violacea is nicer smelling than bellina?
I also heard bellina grows bigger? is this true?