As we might not be meeting for a while, it seemed a good idea to restart this series of posts, sharing orchids that are flowering beautifully but without our members being able to admire them, a sort of virtual Table Display.

If you have such an orchid, please send a photo (or two) and a bit of information about the plant, for instance, how long you’ve had it, the conditions you grow it in, feeding and so on.

Starting us off is Sandra and her Coelogyne tomentosa (formerly Coelogyne massangeana):

I bought this plant at the Tauranga show in 2014 and immediately repotted it into a basket (it has pendulous flowers) where it remains today. It didn’t flower in 2015, but did in January 2016 so I thought I was away. No such luck as this is the first year it’s flowered since then!

So imagine my excitement in late February when I spotted a fat spike forming underneath the leaves. Unlike many other orchids (Laelia anceps, I’m looking at you), the spike grows quickly and opens quickly with the flowers lasting about 3 weeks.

I’ve possibly given it more light over the last growing season, moving the basket out of the shadehouse. For the summer it’s been hanging on an old clothes horse partly shaded by an orange tree but getting plenty of light (and heat this year too).

It will be interesting to see if having it outside year-round results in more flowers next year or if the intermittent blooming is just something I have to put up with. It can, apparently, flower at any time of the year and online sources tell me it’s one of the easiest Coelogynes to grow!

The species is from the mountainous regions of Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, and Java in river valleys at elevations of 1150-2100m, which makes it a cool to cold-growing orchid. In summer in its natural habitat, the average day temperature is 23°C, the average night 16°C (so it’s had way over that this year). In winter the average day temperature is 24°C, night 13-14°C.

Fortunately my plant still has plenty of room in its basket as it doesn’t like having its roots disturbed.