Phal mannii In Bloom

[78Terp]

I have had this Phal mannii (mannii ' Black Forest' x self) since 3/14. This is the first rebloom since then. It was doing poorly 1.5 years ago, so I bought a replacement. But now this one is blooming and the replacement hasn't.

I couldn't wait for the other buds to open to post this. It is a much blacker mannii than was posted recently. that huge mannii compared to mine.

I'll post more pictures when they are all open.

[Chris in Hamilton]

Nice! This is one of the parents of the Mannicata I posted. Congrats on the re bloom! I think I have to find one

[78Terp]

I have nothing against hybrid Phals, but I do prefer species Phals. They are more difficult to bloom though.

[ksriramkumar]

Looks very nice. Black ones are impossible to find here

[Sheryl]

Wow Harvey! I've not seen this before. It's really cool! Looking forward to your post with all the buds open!

[zainal abidin]

Used to have one but already sent to heaven so nice Harvey.

[DoreenVDT]

I have nothing against hybrid Phals, but I do prefer species Phals. They are more difficult to bloom though.

I agree that species phals are difficult to grow. In home conditions, under lights, I have to enclosed the species orchids I have either in a plastic box or a fish tank. The primary crosses are much less difficult to grow and bloom.

[JDT]

That is certainly a different kind of Phal, worth waiting for it to re-bloom!

[78Terp]

That is certainly a different kind of Phal, worth waiting for it to re-bloom!

This is the main reason I like species over hybrids in general is the shape of the blooms. They often times have more narrow sepals and petals. Not as round as most hybrid Phals.

[Dorsetman]

Quite a stunner - new to me too. Reminds me of those little frogs which spit poison - have been looking at pics of them - no I'm not branching out into amphibians ! - but seeking to buy moss mixtures for orchid mounts, and the aquaria etc people sell what I want. In fact I have had some stuff delivered but not yet started it growing.

However, I too have a mannii in flower , mine is the form from Yunnan, in fact mine is a piece from the private collection of a well-known German Gentleman, married to a Chinese lady, running an orchid nursery in that part of the world. I'll tray and snap it and post soon - have been rather busy with a heating failure in the greenhouse , eventually traced to a faulty power socket where the boiler electric supply originates ; so all is well now, fingers crossed- since the temperature in the greenhouse did go down to 8 ˚ C. in the small hours last night. Boiler failures always happen when a cold spell arrives - brilliant sunshine today, but thermometer only up to 11˚ C in the shade , snow in the North of England ( a few hundred miles from here ) - but excitement - rain is promised for Sunday - the first for about 2 months here...the garden needs it, and I like to collect it for spraying on the plants, a;though I use RO water for the pots.