Haraella retrocalla spike watch

[Roberta]

I love this little species. Sequential blooming, frequent new spikes, compact, wide temperature range, fragrant... what's not to love??

[naturalistSean]

I agree Roberta! It is a very forgiving little plant that seems to like the conditions I can provide.

Also, I should point out that it is actually producing 2 spikes at the moment. I hadn't noticed the 2nd one until today. I'll attach a photo.

[naturalistSean]

Last year when this bloomed for the first time it was a single spike with one blossom at a time. This time around the flowers are developing faster and on two spikes.

[naturalistSean]

The plant flowered a few days ago. Currently it has two blooms and two buds that appear rather close to opening. It has produced flowers several weeks earlier than last year which was the first time the plant bloomed. That is to say that the time from tiny spike to flower appears to be several weeks less.

Last year I was only barely able to detect any fragrance. This time the fragrance is much more pronounced. Last year it only produced a single flower at a time but the fragrance seems beyond doubled now. Perhaps it needed to be a little more mature to produce a noticeable fragrance?

Anyhow, I'll leave it at that. I largely started this thread to track the progress of the plant in a place I could come back and look. Of course I also hope anyone searching the Internet for information about the species will find it useful and interesting.

Happy growing!