Where to purchase good quality Phal. bellina var. coerulea?
 

I would really like to acquire a nice specimen of Phal. bellina var. coerulea. I've seen Big Leaf Orchids recommended for Phals, but they don't carry this variety (they did at some point though).

What online vendor should I go with for the best quality?

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

This is a very popular plant so you will eventually find it.

Most orchid vendors have a group of plants, sell out, then have them again later. If you wait and watch you most likely will find them at Big Leaf.

It is getting quite cool in most of the US. This is a plant that can be damaged if it goes below 70 F / 21C. I suggest you wait for warmer weather to mail order one. Today I decided not to order a Phal. lueddemanniana for just this reason, and I live in a warm part of the world. In a recent thread here somebody living in the southern US reported receiving a frost damaged Oncidium, and they tolerate much lower temperatures than does Phal. bellina.

This place often has them even if they do not have them right now....

Buy Phalaenopsis Orchids - OrchidWeb

Just keep an eye on their website.
You can also contact Big Leaf Orchids and ask if they will have them at any time in the near future.

I have been finding orchids on Etsy. I saw that they had a few. Just read through the reviews before ordering to make certain that the vendor is decent.

My favorite online vendor for Bellinas is orchidsbyhausermann.com. They sell excellent plants. However, Winter isn't the best time to order from them due to cold weather (they are located in Illinois).

I bought my normal bellina at Hausermann's but I have not seen a Phal. bellina var. coerulea in a long time (then again, I just look there if I am wanting to add to the collection).

I saw Mike Mims who owns Blue Ridge Orchids at a Phalaenopsis workshop in Dallas this past weekend. He was selling lots of bellinas and think some were coerulea. I would check with him. His email address is posted here: bios mims

Does Mike have a website? His Phals are stunning.

Krull Smith just had a bunch of select large bellina (including coerulea). Check in with Julien.

Just a side note. I'm not naming anyone but several well-known phal vendors have been known to sell virused plants (probably unintentionally, but with no commitment to giving two ***** about selling virused plants) but if you're going to drop 100-200 on a mature bellina coerulea, and care about virus, you might want to clarify the policy. Just saying.

I honestly don't know! He's active on Facebook though.

I don't really buy Phals, but occasionally Taiwanese vendors will arrange orders to be shipped overseas when they get large orders, and you could get your order put into the same batch (so you don't have to deal with the importing yourself). I had an opportunity with (if I recall) POM orchids, but ultimately didn't go through it since they had no virus policy, and in asking a bunch of such questions I missed the deadline. But if I get into Phals this will be my approach. Rather than getting ripped off (in my opinion) by a domestic importer like Norman's or Big Leaf that charges 50-120 for one of these plants, you could just go straight to the source and buy them for 5-25. They have a whole list of hundreds of plants to choose from. Sometimes I do a reverse image search out of curiosity of a Seattle Orchids offering or an ebay vendor, and match their catalog up to one of the Taiwanese distributors. See like a $25 plant marked up to a random number like $78.50, and they're still getting sold. None of the aforementioned vendor have virus policies, since their sources don't, so you're getting the same service.