Need Help with Choosing Phrags & Paphs...
 

A good friends wife has asked me to purchase some orchids for her husband's birthday. He's not been growing orchids for very long but really likes paphs and phrags. Problem is, although I own 3 paphs and 1 phrag, I know little to nothing about them or what would be "nice" plants to get for him. I've looked at some paph species plants online but they don't seem to be all that "wow" to me. So, help me spend someone elses money on some good plant with nice flowers.

The limitations are:
1) have up to $70 to spend, not including shipping
2) no more then 6 plants in total - would be nice to get an equal number of each type but not a must
3) must be warm growing - that is, live outside in Florida most of the year
4) Plants can be 2" or 2-1/2" pots or bigger
5) do not have to be in bloom or blooming size

Please give me some plant names to look at and a good online place to purchase them would be a plus. Any help is appreciated!!

I don't know about any of the prices down there, so i don't know what you could get for your money ..

Paphs to list that don't mind the heat.

Honey (primulinum x philippinese) Blooms twice a year, new flowers can go for months. (compact growth)

Lady rothschild (Lady Isabel 'NJ' x rothschildianum 'Song Sparrow' (large grower)

lowii ('New Horizon'X Memoria Agnes Helbling') (large grower)

Prime child (primulimum 'Hercules' x rothschildianum 'Milady') (some are smaller growing then others)

Susan booth (rothschildianum x glanduliferum) (large growing)

St.Swithin (rothschildianum Kerrich x philippinese) (large to more comapct growing)
Judge philip (Pinocchio x philippinense) (large to compact grower)

Paph. gratrixianum (comapct grower)

Paph wardii (Wide petels x half n' half) (small compact grower)

I'm sure others will list some of their growers :)

i have a paph, thats got a solid purple color, i can tell you exact name tomorrow, but i can pretty much give it to you, well for 9 dollars, plus shipping if you want it, its in bud right now, but i dont think their would be anything wrong with cutting it off, just a suggestion, if you dont want it i totally understand, but if you do, i can take a picture, probably, its in nice shape, has 3 large leaves, but it would need to be repotted, because its in bark and styrofoam, i bought it from my work on an impulse, and im not to big on the large leaves, i like the solid purple flower, but to want to keep it, i should've gone with white with purple viens in the leaf. Let me know if you want to check it out

I don't know of too many warm growing Phrags, so you might be out of luck in that department. Intermediate temps is probably the best you could do there.

There are lots of different types of Paphs. Does your friend like the big strap leaved varieties or the mottled leaf brachies? They have very different looks. Paph. delenatii is a very pretty brachie with white petals and a pink pouch. Magic Lantern is a very pretty brachie hybrid delenatii x micracanthum. Paph. henryanum is the cutest little strap leaf. It has a mint green dorsal with brown spots that reminds me of mint chip ice cream. Paph. lowii is a large plant and stunning when in full bloom. Paph. liemianum is a smaller sequential bloomer that can stay in bloom for 6 months or more!

if he's new, i would say stay away from paph lady rothschild and susan booth--they will take forever to get into bloom. the rest the others suggest are fine (in my opinion).

as for phrags, pretty much any cross that has phrag longifolium in it will grow very fast. some primary cross of longifolium are Eric Young, Conchiferum, Grande, Green Hornet, Paul Eugene Conroy, Praying Mantis, Sedenii, Sorcerer's Apprentice, Urgandiae, and Wossner Supergrande.

but for phrags, no matter wat cross/species you choose, what u need to consider for your friend's husband is how much space he has. some can be very small and compact but some are very large, sorcerer's apprentice can have leaf spans of about 20-24".

You can always look at The orchid Inn

Orchid Inn, Ltd.

They s[ecialize in many paph and phrag species and hybrids. Some suggestions would be
Paph. Sanderianum, warm tolerant no small though
Paph. Kolosand, another warmth lover but also not small
Paph. Philippinense, Medium to large likes intermediate temps.
Paph. Stonei
Paph. Druyi smaller with a tolerance of warm
Phrag. Caudatum
Phrag. Exstamondium

Paphs are more temperature tolerant than phrags so you would be better off with them. If you really look there are a few warm growing bessea hybrids that will do okay in florida but they wont be cheap.

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions!! I'm still working my way through this list! I still have a couple weeks until I have to commit!

Sooo many choice... I'm starting to get tempted into buying for me as well...

Carter and Holmes is in South Carolina and has many of the Paphs and some of the Phrags suggested. They have a web site.