Vanda barnesii

[PeterNL]

Vanda barnesii

[estación seca]

Wow!

[Roberta]

A beautiful blooming of a beautiful species.

[Paphluvr]

I don't think I've ever seen this one before. Very nice!

[Ray]

That’s a new one to me, too.

Great!

[Roberta]

It is a relatively high elevation species (along with the closely related V. javierae). I grow it outside (so winter temperatures close to freezing occasionally, routinely around 4 deg C/40 deg F) . I won't say that it thrives, though it definitely survives (10 years) ... I get maybe 3-4 flowers in a good year, I am in awe of the one shown by the OP. So it likely is happier with some protection. It's a pretty new species, was described only in 2012.

[PeterNL]

Indeed,a so called cool growing Vanda. In my greenhouse it has in winter temperatures of minimum 10C ,mostly around 15C, warming up when the sun is shining to mid 20's. In summer the temp can rise up to 42C which should be too warm for this species. But it thrives, already for about 15 years now. Got it at that time as V.javierae seedling. This species was called javierae 'red lip'at that time. The small seedling gor condens water in the growing crown, and rotting away. 3 new keikis were formed. It took a long time, but all 3 the new plants, still attached together, are flowering now.
One of my absolute favourite Vandas!!

[Roberta]

I got mine also as V. javierae ... apparently there was a shipment supposedly V. javierae, that turned out to be different. Carson Barnes bought plants from the same vendor that I did, in the San Francisco Bay area, he bought 14 plants... I bought one. Mine I got in 2011. (It turns out that most of the shipment was this new species) I do have the Orchid Digest article (Vol. 76-4, Oct Nov Dec, 2012 with the botanical description - and the story - by Higgins and Motes (I have been a subscriber for many years) ... I was really excited to find that I had something new!

[PeterNL]

I have 3 plants of this Vanda barnesii now. The 'triple'mentioned above, and 2 others. Fun thing is, that all 3 plants have different feature, one of them is bigger in everything, also the flowers are almost half time bigger than the others, with fewer on a stem. The 3rd one is smaller, with slightly thinner leaves. all 3 are typical V. barnesii tho, and all 3 i got same time back in 2007. (can be 2008...)
In fact it is still something new. And still rare. I guess we have plants out of the same shipment from that time or around, of which many plants turned out to be V. barnesii later, i.s.o V. javierae.
The plants found in nature in the phillipines are few, and spread on a relatively small area and even fewer islands. The shape of the flower, and especially lip are magnificant! Again, one of my favourite Vanda for sure!

[Roberta]

Indeed, probably the same shipment. You got the plants when they were seedlings, and had the fun of watching them grow up. Mine, I saw at the nursery (not in good condition, they had others that were worse) a few years later. So you also rescued them!