Monday blooms
 

While I was out with the dog enjoying a perfect winter day on the snowshoes, these three guys finished opening up. They're continuing my strange trend lately of having only one bloom at a time on each plant, but hey, with colors like this in the dead of winter, who's complaining? :)

1) Masdevallia tonduzii 'Makawao' - about 2 inches across, big for the size of the plant.
2) Maxillaria variabilis, burgundy form - tiny bloom, intense colors, great smell if you stick your nose right into it. Just noticed a bunch more buds.
3) Dendrochilum cobbianum - not sure why I've gotten addicted to these things and their strange, but not unpleasant, smell. I now have six different Dendrochilum species, always looking for more.

Thanks for looking! ;)

Really nice, Stephen! Lovely. I really like the red variety of Max. variabilis. And that's a great lookin' Masdie too! For those of us with no personal Dendrochilum experience, care to take a stab at describing the fragrance?

Thanks, Yvan. Most of the Dendrochilum odors are, to this nose anyway, variations on a theme: usually a bit like hay, or grass, but sometimes with a musky overtone, sometimes with a sharper, "tangy" sting. One of mine, D. glumaceum, smells like hay mixed with talcum powder. D. magnum (or macranthum) is one of the sharper ones. As I said, not "beautiful" scents in the vein of, say, a Cattleya, but... interesting.

Cool! Wow...Actually that sounds pretty nice to me! I really like woodsy, even musky, green smells. And I really think Dendrochilums are very neat. Only thing is they are just too big for me. Thanks for the description!

Actually you might be surprised: there are lots of small-to-miniature Dendrochilums. I have a D. curranii mounted on a piece of four-inch-square tree fern. The longest leaf is just over five inches, and the whole thing is a tight little clump, with coppery white chains of flowers. I also have D. uncatum, growing happily in a 3" net pot.

Stephen, I love Dendrochilums but it always seems to be a struggle keeping them alive. Are all of yours mounted? Any hints on their culture?

:)

Hi, Shirley! No real "tricks" to report -- when I first got interested in this genus, I mounted a couple and potted the rest, just to compare how they'd do. I found the really small species usually do better on mounts, especially tree fern, because their roots are pretty fine and the tree fern lets them really dig in and wind around without too much resistance.

The potted ones all seemed to take off when I moved them into vanda baskets or net pots. Mine are all in straight sphagnum moss. I read someplace that fine bark also works well, but for my conditions I've found that moss is better. They're generally pretty thirsty plants and I keep them moist all year round (but definitely not soggy), letting them dry out just slightly between waterings. They're also heavy feeders.

Dendrochilums have a reputation for hating root disturbance, so I've been letting mine grow right over the edge of the pot before I mess with them. They also love good air movement, and don't seem to be too fussy about humidity. As for light, mine are growing like weeds under T5 fluorescents, on the same shelf as the Bulbos (i.e., bright light, some shading).

Hope some of that helps! Definitely no expert here, but this stuff seems to be working for my growing conditions. :)

Thanks for the hints, Stephen! I'll see if I can do better with them now! I have my two in net pots in tree fern and water about every three days. Maybe I should up that a bit.

:)

You might maybe see if you could squeeze some sphagnum into the pot as well, since tree fern dries out so quickly! :goodluck: