Rossioglossum Rawdon Jester

[MrHappyRotter]

Rossioglossum Rawdon Jester (grande x williamsianum)

I am particularly proud of this one. That's seven very large flowers and one bud on a single spike. I've always been told that Rossioglossums are particularly tough to grow in warmer climates, and until I decided I had to have one, I hadn't seen one in person. They apparently don't tolerate summer heat very well, and are also very finicky when it comes to repotting.

Anyway, several years ago, I decided I had to have one, and picked this up. I think it was in spike when I got it via Ebay. After it bloomed I repotted it into my standard rockwool based mix. It definitely hated being repotted, and produced one or two stunted growths before this current healthy and happy and blooming growth popped out.

Overall, it has been a tad tricky to grow. I usually water about twice a week and I'm careful not to let it sit in water. The roots appear to be active and growing year round, though the vegetative growth goes dormant for awhile after the growth matures. It gets the same LED/T8 light levels as my paphs and phrags, so it doesn't seem to need particularly bright light. The leaves were actually pretty close to flawless until recently they developed a few dark spots near the leaf tips. I've heard that these plants tend to have spotty/ugly leaves in cultivation, so I wasn't too surprised about that.









No fragrance on these, but the huge flowers make up for it. I love the tiger stripes in the sepals, I find it to be very appealing.