So I mentioned recently that I ordered some new orchids.
They all arrived in great shape except for one that had no roots and was not the size advertised but after offering to replace the plant I offered a partial refund and that was accepted so good service. The plant will take much longer to recover but it will join my existing seedlings.
I have placed 3 orders with Spiceotics by now and I am happy to say they are as good as any other nursery I have used.
Yes one plant I am still suspicious is the right plant, and another one had pests but which nursery doesn't have those issues from time to time.
This last order was pretty good. I did place a big order for my budget but it was worth it and got a few unexpected extra's.
The plants are looking in great shape.
I bought a C. Sea Breeze
and a C Trianae coerulea
both pots had two healthy plants in them. So nice bonus with those.
I picked up a digbyana for £25 - cheapest I have seen as it is hard to get a good plant that cheap.
Just to show the plants I received again
Additions are from left to right
Brassavola fragrans (this one is not worth buying, freshly imported and not many roots)
C Varut Startrack (yes I had to get myself another one although I already have one
)
C Sea Breeze (x2)
C Dowiana
C Leuddemanniana couerulea
C leuddemanniana semi alba
C Trianae coerulea (x2)
and C Shinfong Dawn - the big one top right.
So maybe I got really lucky but I have a sneaky suspicion if anyone else buys a C Sea Breeze or a Trianae from spiceotics you might (big might) end up with more than one plant in the pot which makes a purchase a little more worthwhile.
So if anyone is thinking of placing an order with them, I'd recommend you consider adding one of those.
The Sea Breeze is a C Warneri x Walkeriana and after doing a bit of research it turns out warneri is practically an identical version of C labiata just with more fragrance and different blooming time. Initially c Warneri was mislabelled labiata for decades, then reclassified to c labiata var warneri and finally recognised as its own species in the end.
Who knew. I thought my labiata was going to be my most fragrant one and then along comes the Warneri lol.
So 5 thumbs up from spiceotics. After Brexit I was worried that prices would go up drastically and choice would be reduced but at least spiceotics is quite reliable getting good stock in still.
Other nurseries around here have not really been getting new products and hybrids as much and orchidgarden no longer sends to the UK.
So yeah my recommendation, check out the C Sea Breeze.
I'm hoping it will be a breeze to grow