Aeranthes Hsinying Ramosa

[MrHappyRotter]

Aeranthes Hsinying Ramosa (Grandiose x ramosa)

This is 3/4 Aeranthes ramosa, and 1/4 Aeranthes grandiflora. Very quickly after I started looking more into Angraecoid orchids, I realized how appealing these flowers were to me, and decided to pick up this wonderful plant from Kawamoto orchids. It was a nice sized and obviously mature sized plant, and which had no signs of previous bloom spikes, so I think this may be its first! The roots were dried out quite a bit when I got it, and some were dead, but the foliage was in excellent shape and very healthy. I had read that Angraecums and their relatives do not handle repotting and root disturbances very well, so I had a little apprehension.

This plant, however, handled being repotted like a champ. I potted it in a wooden basket with sphag, charcoal, and spongerock as the mix. I keep it very moist, though it does dry out just a bit between waterings. It seemed like only a matter of a month before the roots started poking out the sides and meandered around the wooden slats. The very best thing about this plant's culture is that it appears to thrive in shadier conditions. I hang it on the side of the stand where there is no direct overhead light, and the light it gets is partially obscured by the foliage of the plants that are growing on the shelf.

I was really surprised and also very happy that soon after repotting, it also decided it was time to bloom. The wiry spike is long, very thin, and very pliable, and it grew rapidly. The only thing is, it had to grow a lot before it finally began developing branches, and then buds. Basically it grew for months on end until it reached several feet (1m) or more in length, at which point I just looped it up into curls so that when it finally bloomed, I would have had to lay on the floor to be eye level with the blooms.

Despite taking a very long time for the spike to develop, the buds grow and open very quickly. I'm used to Paphs and Phrags, some of which take a long time to develop the buds...this Aeranthes is a cheetah in comparison.

I'm hoping it turns out to be fragrant. Online reports are mixed so this may be one where individual clones are fragrant, others are not. If it is fragrant, it's described as being similar to butterscotch. I'm interested to see how accurate that is. As of right now, it is not fragrant and I've checked several times starting at around sundown. If it is fragrant, I assume like most other Angs, it will be night fragrant.









My camera and photographic skills are lacking, and don't really show the beautiful opaque and translucent aspects of the flower. For instance, unless I'm deceiving myself, I think I can see some liquid in the nectary.

[bethmarie]

What an odyssey! Lovely flowers, nice growing and a well written story to boot. A+

[theloyalplum]

I'm so jealous! It looks like you're doing something right! Do you have a picture of the whole plant? I've had mine for a year and it hasn't done much but lose a leaf and grow a smaller one and root growth is close to nil... :x

[MrHappyRotter]

Originally Posted by bethmarie

What an odyssey! Lovely flowers, nice growing and a well written story to boot. A+

Remember I asked you about whether I should stake the spike or let it hang down? Well, I started out staking it up, and then it grew too long for that, so then I let it hang naturally for a while, and then it grew too long for that, too. That's when I settled for curling it up into loops.

---------- Post added at 12:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:19 AM ----------

Originally Posted by theloyalplum

I'm so jealous! It looks like you're doing something right! Do you have a picture of the whole plant? I've had mine for a year and it hasn't done much but lose a leaf and grow a smaller one and root growth is close to nil... :x

Thanks. Yes, I decided against taking photos of the foliage tonight because the lights were already going off and I figured I'd be able to get better photos tomorrow in some natural lighting. So, hopefully I'll have some pics of the whole plant and basket, if not tomorrow, soon.

[No-Pro-mwa]

That is a very cool bloom. Dark green wow.

[MrHappyRotter]

Some pics of the foliage...

[WhiteRabbit]

Wow! Very cool!

[MrHappyRotter]

As a follow up, it doesn't appear that this plant is fragrant. I've checked it at different times of the day, from early morning to midday to evening and at night.

[No-Pro-mwa]

Lovely. To bad about the smell.

[Tindomul]

An awesome bloom, you did a lot of good work on it.