Rossioglossum grande or Tiger Orchid: a tough orchid to grow in Baltimore weather.

Rossioglossum grande is also known as the Tiger Orchid and originates in the elevated regions of Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala (http://eol.org/pages/1131539/overview). This orchid enjoys the cool misty mountain climate with plenty of humidity. It loves plenty of sunlight but not direct light.

The clear bold stripes on the flowers is the reason why Rossioglossum grande is known as the Tiger orchid. 

The blooms are estimated to be 6 in (15 cm) wide and there can be as many as 3 to 5 flowers per stalk. The flowers can last up to 2 months. Arne succeeded cultivating this orchid back in Sweden several times due to the cooler climate indoors but here in Baltimore, the heat was too much! The photos in this post were one Rossioglossum grande that did survive for 2 years. Once the flowers wilted away, the orchid never quite recovered. He gave it away to someone who could provide the orchid a cooler environment to grow.

Up close of the Rossioglossum grande. Notice how the tips of the petals were beginning to wilt? It is a impressive flower. 

During the Summer or warmer weather, Arne would place his orchid out on our front porch and it can be a great conversation piece with the neighbors around. Quite decorative too.

Unfortunately, we don't have this specimen anymore but I told Arne he shouldn't give up. He should find it and try again. This is one of my favorite orchids of his. It reminded me of another orchid that I had back home. It was also known as the Tiger orchid but its botanical name is Grammatophyllum speciosum. Apparently it only flowered once in 2 to 4 years but the flowers were many (80 flowers at once). I remembered a friend of my parents giving us the orchid plants and we were told to water them religiously and we waited, and waited until one day flower buds emerged. I don't have any photos but below are some photos I found. Amazing orchids.

We had 2 of these in our garden. The flower stems can grow up to 10 feet (3 m) high and the flowers can be between 5 in and 8 in (20 cm) wide.  

http://orchidscare.blogspot.com/2009/03/grammatophyllum-speciosum-flower.html

Current flowering orchid: Cattleya walkeriana var. coerulea

Arne has had this orchid, Cattleya wakeriana var. coerulea, since 2007 and bought it online from on eof his favourite vendor. He is so proud of it because he said it is rather rare to have 4 flowers at once. He used to hang it in our study but I begged him to move it down to the basement because of the very strong floral fragrant. It was giving me a headache.   

This orchid originates from Brazil and known for its compact size but big flowers. It is also known as the Queen of the Brazilian savannah http://www.aos.org/. The common name is Walker's Cattleya, named after an English orchid collector in Brazil in the 1800s. (http://www.orchidspecies.com/catleyawalkeriana.htm)

Not easy to see but the flowers have a slight tinge of blue, hence the var. coerulea.

Per request from Arne, I took a nice photo of Cattleya walkeriana var. coerulea's frontal profile to show all 4 flowers. This orchid started to flower on Christmas day 2013 and is still in bloom today, Jan 29th 2014. Six weeks and still going strong, the same goes for the fragrant. 

Malaysian Trip: Anything can grow out there!

http://www.mapsofworld.com/malaysia/maps/malaysia-map.gif

I told Arne of how green and luscious the Malaysian jungle is and how anything can grow. "Just throw a seed out the window and it will sprout by the next day!", I would brag. His eyes would twinkle and he longed to visit my country of birth. "You guys have a lot of exotic and almost extinct orchids over there. We must go there!". And so we did in August 2009. I took the photo above while we were driving down from my home town, Kuantan to the capital, Kuala Lumpur (KL for the locals) for a day trip. I was very happy to see the virgin jungle still intact. Malaysian jungle is the oldest in the world.

Ancient and divine: The luscious green canopies of the virgin equatorial jungle up close.  Let's hope they are spared from deforestation. Truly Nature's treasure to humanity.

Arne was overjoyed when we visited a friend's house with orchids just hanging outside. That is how I remembered orchids should be cultivated. You know, in the humid and warm climate. No fuss, just take the hose to water them and let the water run out of the pot! 

This may not look like much to you but the two stumps in the middle were the remains of two old (~25 years old) coconut trees. As usual in this part of the world, the stumps have been colonized by another plant, enjoying the nutrients the stumps have to offer for survival. The new replacing the old.

Up close, the new plant is an orchid, a Vanda. Arne thought it could be a hybrid (how he deduced that, I don't have a clue...orchid geek). We knew it was an orchid because someone thought the orchid was dead and decided to throw it out. Well, as I said, anything can grow over there! I was told the blooms were yellow (?) in color. Since we haven't been back, we don't have any photos of the blooms, what a pity! 

Looking through my old e-mails, I found a picture of the orchid blooms. It started to flower about 1 week after we flew back to the States. Now Arne says it is "Vanda-like-orchids". I guess it would be easier to identify if it was right in front of you. In any case, they are beautiful. Arne confessed that he has a tough time identifying Vandas as well as cultivating them indoors over here because of their need for strong light and heat. Which explains why this orchid grew very well in Malaysian weather.

Here's a close up of the orchid flowers. If you are interested to identify this orchid, look up Vanda online and I'm sure you will find tonnes of information about it. 

The orchid of the day: Angraecum sesquipedale

This is the famous Angraecum sesquipedale, known also as the Darwin orchid, a native of Madagascar. This is Arne's current pride and joy. He would keep coming to me and say, "See how long the spurs are! What a specimen!". I would say, "Fantastic". Well since putting this blog together, I find this Angraecum very interesting indeed! How do you think the flower gets pollinated? The white flower has a 12 inch spur or nectary that Darwin predicted a moth with equally long proboscis would be the pollinator. A highly specialize pollinator. Of course, years later, such a moth was discovered, Xanthopan morganii.

A picture of the Xanthopan-morganii-praedicta, courtesy of Encylopedia Britannica

Fascinating how nature finds a way to survive. I never realized how exotic and fragile orchids were. Imagine if the moth dies out, who will pollinate Angraecum sesquipedale? I suppose that is why so many orchids are extinct in the wild even before they get discovered. Thanks to the encroachment of humankind into jungles and forest... fragile is the balance of life.

Angraecum sesquipedale with Anthony

We thought you should have a sense of proportion. Here's our dog, Marcus Anthony, we call him Anthony for short. He is a 77 lbs English Shepherd and posed nicely next to the Angraecum sesquipedale in our study. Just a note, Anthony will appear rather regularly in this blog.

Above a great close up of Arne's pride and joy. The first bloom (in the front) appeared 1 week ago and the second bloom (in the back) opened 3 days ago. These blooms give off a pleasant fragrance. By the way, Arne bought this particular good specimen from a reliable company online. If you are interested to know, just write and we'll try to remember which one! 

My husband, Arne Schon, and his expanding orchid hobby.

Arne's orchid hobby has gotten bigger each day. I grew up in Malaysia and was very used to orchids everywhere. Never did I think this Swedish guy is a real enthusiast and wanted to cultivate the rarest he could find! It can be an expensive hobby but we managed to cultivate this hobby on a thrifty budget and I must say the blooms are gorgeous and even I, a girl from the equator is impressed by Arne's efforts. He does drive me crazy but after 24 years, I'm getting use to it. Here are some pictures to share.

Arne hangs his orchids indoor in our studies during the cold season. As you can see the orchids are facing the sun. I bought curtain rods (notice, no curtain right?) for him to hang those plants. It is fascinating how they survive without soil, right? Amazing epiphytes aren't they.

This orchid is called Broughtonia sanguinea, see how the roots are simply wrapping around the tree bark. The bark is from a cork oak tree. Broughtonia sanguinea flowers in the Summer. I'll post the blooms later in the year. 

This orchid was in bloom Feb/March 2013. The flower buds are emerging now Jan 26 2014. Her name is Leptotes bicolor (I like to her).

A close up of Leptotes bicolor. Notice the two colors; white and the soft pink/purple shade within each bloom. We are waiting for the next round of blooms. When the weather is warm, Arne would hang the orchids outside. Reminds me of home in Malaysia.

Laelia sincorana, from the Sincora Plateau in Brasil (that's what Arne told me, you can check the web). A very small orchid and boy, was he excited when it flowered. He loves his rare orchids. Arne orders his orchids from the web, many different sites. Some are better than others.