Vanda Patricia Lowe 'Jerni'

[Cjcorner]

Aha , the semi-terete plant . No-one imports them into UK or even Europe, on the basis that they don't flower too well here. I'm dieing to get my hands on a few to see what I can do since I think I know my way round my Vanda techniques nowadays....maybe the next European Congress in Hungary will produce something, next Spring.

I don't usually do well with the terete types. But this one seems to love the greenhouse and is growing as well as blooming. I wish they were easier to find as well. I really love the flowers. I hear in the far east they are so popular they have separate groups for awarding them. Maybe an importer will "get a clue" and start making them a little more accessible to the collectors. I personally would love to add a few to the growing vanda collection. Maybe they aren't popular for sale in that they get so big and bushy with the roots??

[mauraec]

Question for you, Connie: I have a small V. lilacina. I think it's going to survive, though still looking a little traumatized. Is it what is considered semi-terete? Also it's very small and doesn't show any sign of past spikes. It grows in a basket hanging in the brightest (indirect) southern light I have here - indoors, now that the temps in Atlanta are going from hot to freezing and back every few days. I could put it in direct sun -through the window- if that would encourage blooming - what do you suggest? Do you know this species or have one? I haven't run across it much in my research travels.

[Dorsetman]

Maybe they aren't popular for sale in that they get so big and bushy with the roots??

I don't think they get any bigger and bushier than strap-leaved, or am I wrong ? As I have said, we don't get any actual experience with them here !
But in this connection I will mention that I just ( last night) as part of my continueing study of vandaceous orchids generally, read an account of V.Miss Joaquim ( teres x hookeriana) when it was first shown to the RHS only four years after it was first seen by the world in Singapore ( 1893). The shown plant was seven feet tall, with a spike of 12 flowers and buds ( four open). But 7 feet tall - over 2 metres...it won a FCC btw.