Orchid Dynasty

[katsucats]

Orchid Dynasty seems like a cut flower shop from the website, and if you go to its "Orchids" menu, it seems to be selling orchid arrangements, but scroll all the way to the bottom and you'll find an impressive list of plants in their greenhouse. I ordered 5 plants through email, and during our chat I said I was interested in fragrant species.

Today, the orchids arrived and Clint packed an extra plant with a note that he finds it very fragrant. When I first unpacked the plants, I set it aside in the corner of a bathroom. A pang of sweat broke out across my forehead. To be honest, in my experience, when I find oversized orchids, about half the time there's a virus, and I've never, ever gotten plants of this size. These plants were between 28-35 each (the Seidenfadenia mitrata was 45). Even the free plant is larger than LA Orchid John's whole catalog. And there were some suspicious spots and streaks. I was almost sure the Encyclia osmantha would have ORSV, just like Orchid Trail's osmantha.

But with my remaining Agdia strips, every one of them tested negative. I will repeat the test in a few months, but in the mean time, I might've found my favorite orchid nursery. It's a value leader, right up there next to SVO divisions, and I wasn't that surprised that Fred Clark actually named a hybrid after this guy, Cattleya Clint Lewis. Rare species, great value and service, what's not to like? I guess it remains to be seen whether they would bloom true to description, but I have no reason to doubt them.