stanhopea tigrina... so happy i could pee!

They really are intoxicating !

let me start with this is my first stanhopea, so tips will be appreciated!
and yes, day 2 and the flowers are staring to go, but it's my understanding they will continue to produce through the fall? ( if i care for them correctly)
the story:
ok, so i have long held the opinion that it behooves one to have friends from all walks of life, you never know when you will need help from the upper crust on down to the gutter... so on saturday i went bulbo hunting and was told to come back on sunday to pick up one...well, i saw this stanhopea and couldnt resist... more than than i wanted to pay but im on an orchid binge at the moment (14us$ for the larger of the plants) well, the next day one of my seedier taiwanese associates who likes to go to the flower market with me while utterly off his face (a bit of a pill problem he has) insisted on coming with me... when i popped in to tell the lady who sold me the first one how pleased i was with it, my friend immediately started bargaining for her last one... i emphatically stated to both him and the seller i was not interested due to the fact that the first plant was a test run to see if i could even successfully grow these and that a second would be an unnecessary potential fatality... they both ignored me... with his pilled out state and asian bargaining in over drive things got loud and rather embarrassing... when the dust settled, a price was agreed upon and i had no choice but to buy it cuz thats the rules of bargaining... granted i got it for 1/3rd the price i paid for the only slightly larger one the day before... about 5us$... am i upset, no... but i was serious about just wanting one to do a trial run...oh well... cheap is cheap and having druggie friends in the flower market pays off... (sometimes) more often than not i have to go back to dealers and apologize for his behavior saying hes just a drunk... they all like me enough to over look him when he's with me... with me shouting for him to shut the %^$# up and let me handle things! so thats my tail of two tigrinas...

I should say your life is colourful. Takes all types to make the world go around , my mum used to say. Just think that your pill-popper friend may have made you buy insurance, the first stanhopea may go belly up and you won't be able to get your orchid blessed hands on another one.

Originally Posted by catttan

Very pretty! Trust the little piggy to sniff out these beauty! Great sniffers, piggies, - where would truffles be without them!

you know it just kills me that i paid the same amount of money for a bunch of cut stargazer lilies for my friend's birthday last night as i did for one of these plants... hate paying for cutflowers! plants will flower again!

Your flowers are amazing! I seem to use that word alot lately, but it seems there are a ton of gorgeous/unusual flowers on here lately. Wow...I can see why you are staring at them so. I think I'd be making excuses to go outside...lol. Maybe you will be lucky and this will be a plant that loves you. And you will have one to share maybe someday?? Meanwhile you get to enjoy double the flowers...that's always a bonus!

It is a gorgeous flower Shane! I have an oculata...we are in the same boat as far as culture goes! I am just hoping to get mine to stay with me...
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seems like such an awful amount of work for the plant to go through to produce such massive substantial flowers to only have them last 3 days! i just attempted to pollinate one flower, dont know why really, dont know if it was a good idea or not, dont know what i'll do with if it takes.... guess i'll just sprinkle the seeds on any roots i can find and see what happens...
one thing i do know is it's time for me to do some stanhopea homework!!!

Mabuhay!

LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEE ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!