Rhynchostylis gigantea 'alba' ( in bloom )

[Bud]

Rhynchostylis gigantea 'alba' have fragrant white flowers, with plump pencil like roots that form a single larger sort and hard robust leaves alternate overlapping oblong 4-5 cm wide, 30-40 cm long. It is originally found in China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Malaysia and the Philippine Islands. The flower inflorescence is 25-35 cm long with many small blooms, with six petals where the bloom on 2-3 centimeters in diameter. This usually blooms in winter to early spring: since it’s a specie it will flower once a year; as it matures it can flower twice a year if you’re lucky. It has a strong fragrance all day from 3 to 4 feet away it smells like dove soap, each plant has multiple inflorescences. The buds when it opens to full bloom can stay fresh for several days. The roots and leaves grow very slow…it took me a couple of years to add three leaves to this plant…
I grow it in a hanging basket and located on a south facing window getting bright shaded sun. I water it every other day in winter but when it is hanging on my fire escape in the summers…it gets watered every morning and misted late afternoons…fertilizer is weakly weekly in summers and only twice a month in winters. I also have the spotted specie of this kind…and I am waiting patiently for it to spike…because I know it’s about time it’s just got to bloom this season.
* I am partial to white fragrant orchids...I love all of them