Best easy angraecoids for fragrance?
 

I am interested in exploring more of this wonderful group of plants but I like all of my orchids to be as strongly and pleasantly fragrant as possible.

Which species or hybrids of Aerangis, Angraecum, Jumellea, etc., are both easy to grow for a beginner to this group of plants (I have been growing orchids for over 20 years but no angraecoids) and have fantastic fragrance?

I can accommodate medium natural light conditions and intermediate to warm temperatures.

I have already obtained an Angraecum didieri so I hope I made a good choice!

How much space do you have? A. sesquipedale is very easy to grow in your conditions.

I don’t have a huge amount of space but I could make room for an orchid I really, really wanted. Lol. I have always thought Angraecum sesquipedale looked spectacular!

I really like Mystacidium capense, fragrant and compact

Philip, do you grow your mystacidium potted or mounted?

I grow it mounted, outdoors year round, in Southern California. I water it daily except in Winter when I water it every other day

I would highly recommend Angraecum leonis. It stays compact, has interesting foliage, and is the best smelling angraecum in my collection that I’ve bloomed. I have about 2 dozen different angraecums as they became my favorite section recently.

The didieri is very potently fragrant and a reliable bloomer though I’m not a fan of the fragrance as it has too much phenol to it. It smells a bit like library paste for that reason.

You might also try the magdalenae. I bloomed two of its hybrids recently and they smelled pretty nice.

The sesquipedale is very strange smelling but it’s an amazing orchid that belongs in every collection.

Another really good smelling one is the birrimense but this belongs to the section of climbing angraecums which need to have a totem as they grow like vines. They also are a bit more difficult to care for.

If you like very night fragrant orchids, I think the nicest ones are the two rhyncholaelia species glauca and digbyana. The glauca is I believe one of the best smelling orchids along with the digbyana which looks amazing.

Brassavolas are also good.

BrassavolaStars,

Thank you for the great information! Do you know which variant of Angraecum leonis you grow? I will definitely look into that one.

Yes, I am very interested in night fragrant orchids. Brassavola nodosa and Brassavola Little Stars are among my all time favorites. To date, I have never been able to experience Rhyncholaelia digbyana or glauca.

Two other angraecoids that have appealed to me in photos are Angraecum florulentum and Oeoniella polystachys? Have you or any others here grown these plants?

Angraecum Magdalenae was known as 'The Queen of Angraecums' and I agree with that title. It is easy to grow as long as it has a good, steady source of Calcium. The blooms are long-lasting, fragrant both day and night, and it can bloom both spring and autumn. It isn't too fussy about light or humidity. It doesn't mind the hot summers or the cool house temperatures during the winter. I grow mine in a six-inch basket pot with lava rock, limestone and eggshells.

Definitely get the rhyncholaelias at some point. You won’t be disappointed. If the digbyana is too big, Jimminey cricket is a good hybrid.


I don’t have the florulentum but I do have the polystachys. I found the blooms to be a bit short lived but that was probably a cultural problem.

The leonis I grow now is a Madagascar variety. My original one that I bloomed I gave to someone who begged me for it. I’m not sure which variety that one was. It came from cal-orchid though.