Vanda Miss Joaquim 'Douglas' 4N

[Bud]

Vanda Miss Joaquim became Singapore's national flower in 1981. Singapore is the only nation to have a hybrid orchid as its national flower yet this country produce many beautiful orchid flowers and no orchid is more worthy of being Singapore's national flower than Vanda Miss Joaquim as it is the first registered plant hybrid from Singapore.
This is a cross between Vanda hookeriana and Vanda teres both hardy and free flowering. It was described by the first director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens Mr. HN Ridley in 1893, who named it after Agnes Joaquim since the plant was the result of a cross created by Miss Joaquim. While many of the Armenians in Singapore achieved political and social acclaim during their lifetimes, it is a woman whose name lives on, both in Singapore and beyond. She is Ashkhen Hovakimian (Agnes Joaquim) who bred the world's first cultivated Vanda hybrid.
I give Vanda Miss Joaquim full sunlight, free air movement, high humidity and feed it with K-Lite fertilizer and seaweed mix to achieve optimum growth and flowering. It needs support to grow straight and tall but it flowers only when the top of its stem rises above the support. It is a robust, sun loving plant with slender stems that I have potted in perlite, bark, lava rock, charcoal and sponge rock mix with the help of a tree fern stick to support it.

[Bud]

*this is the true colors of the flower as pictured in an overcast sky

[nikkik]

Fantastic, Bud! Your post was very informative and I enjoyed reading it.

[AussieVanda]

Nice one mate, these look fantastic in a big bunch.

---------- Post added at 02:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:56 PM ----------

I have mine just mounted onto an old wooden stake on yop if a garden bed. I'm thinking about hedging them along one side of my nearly built vanda shade house.

[RosieC]

Gorgeous!

[silken]

Very nice! And you just answered a question that has been in my head. We were in Fiji a few weeks ago and had the most pleasant experience of visiting The Garden Of The Sleeping Giant. A beautiful tropical garden that has an area full of orchids. I saw many vandaceous ones with the normal flat leaves and lots of this type but didn't know what they were. So is it a terrette leafed Vanda then? It kind of looked like a vanda but also like other orchid flowers so I was stumped

[WhiteRabbit]

Beautiful!

[Leafmite]

Wow! Gorgeous!

[Bud]

Originally Posted by nikkik

Fantastic, Bud! Your post was very informative and I enjoyed reading it.

Thank You, nikkik!!!!

when I do my research on its culture and care, I sometimes come across some little snippets of info and I feel I should share with all of you.

---------- Post added at 02:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:45 PM ----------

Originally Posted by AussieVanda

Nice one mate, these look fantastic in a big bunch.

---------- Post added at 02:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:56 PM ----------

I have mine just mounted onto an old wooden stake on yop if a garden bed. I'm thinking about hedging them along one side of my nearly built vanda shade house.

Thank You !

I have seen this grown into a hedge in south of California and they sell the cuttings when they trim it. They can cut the plant into half and it even grow thicker when they trim it.

---------- Post added at 02:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:49 PM ----------

Originally Posted by RosieC

Gorgeous!

Thank You, Rosie !!!!

---------- Post added at 02:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:49 PM ----------

Originally Posted by silken

Very nice! And you just answered a question that has been in my head. We were in Fiji a few weeks ago and had the most pleasant experience of visiting The Garden Of The Sleeping Giant. A beautiful tropical garden that has an area full of orchids. I saw many vandaceous ones with the normal flat leaves and lots of this type but didn't know what they were. So is it a terrette leafed Vanda then? It kind of looked like a vanda but also like other orchid flowers so I was stumped

Thank You, silken!!!!

Right, Vanda Miss Juaquim is a terette Vanda hybrid that inherited its traits from the parents....but the reason you were confused is that the leaves do not grow in a fanlike manner but in a thorn-like sequence.

---------- Post added at 02:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:57 PM ----------

Originally Posted by WhiteRabbit

Beautiful!

Thank You, Sonya !!!!

---------- Post added at 02:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:58 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Leafmite

Wow! Gorgeous!

Thank You, Leafmite !

[GeorgiaVL]

Love the color contrast against the blue sky.