It’s hard to believe that it has been three months since I last managed to get a Six on Saturday post together. The past week has been gloomy and wet outside, so here are six plants that are currently flowering in my greenhouse.
1. Paphiopedilum Fanaticum
Paphiopedilum x fanaticum is the natural hybrid of Paphiopedilum malipoense and P. micranthum. When the same cross is produced in cultivation, the plants are designated Paphiopedilum Fanaticum. This isn’t the greatest photo–light levels were low, and the flower is still opening–but I think you can see that the plant is aptly named. Anyone who is subject to orchidelirium will likely be a fanatic for Paph. Fanaticum.
2. Epidendrum cf. schlechterianum
E. schlechterianum is miniature orchid found from Costa Rica to northern South America (Peru, Colombia, Brazil). Alternatively, E. schlechterianum grows only in Panama, and a group of closely related species–E. congestum, E. congestioides, E. oxynanodes, E. schizoclinandrium, E. serruliferum, and E. uleinanodes–are found elsewhere. It all depends on which botanist you believe. In any case, this is a bizarre little plant with flowers that are almost the same color and texture as the semi-succulent leaves that cover its creeping stems. It grows well mounted on a chunk of treefern fiber and watered once or twice a week.
3. Dendrobium speciosum var. pedunculatum
Some forms of the Australian Dendrobium speciosum grow so large that a forklift is required to move them, but D. speciosum var. pedunculatum is a dwarf variety. My plant has been growing happily in a 4-inch (10 cm) diameter terracotta pot for the past five years, and its pseudobulbs are only slightly larger than my thumb. In summer, it lives outside in almost full sun. In winter, I keep it in the brightest end of the greenhouse and reduce watering to once every two or three weeks.
4. Utricularia sandersonii (Sanderson’s bladderwort)
Although its flowers look vaguely orchid-like, Utricularia sandersonii is a terrestrial bladderwort, a carnivorous member of the family Lentibulariaceae native to South Africa. It grows in saturated soils, where its underground bladder traps can capture and digest protists or rotifers that are small enough to swim between the soil grains. The leaves of U. sandersonii are a couple of millimeters long, and the flower, which looks a bit like a long-tailed rabbit (or maybe a bilby), is about 1 cm from top to bottom.
I grow U. sandersonii in a small pot sitting in water almost up to the surface of the soil (a mix of peat and silica sand). After a few years, it forms a thick tangle of stolons and starts to deteriorate, perhaps because the supply of protists or trace elements in the soil has been exhausted. At that point, propagation is simply a matter of tearing off a chunk of soil/stolons and using it to inoculate a new pot of soil.
5. Hippeastrum striatum
H. striatum is a smallish species from southern Brazil. Its bulbs, leaves, and flowers are all much smaller than the big hybrid hippeastrums that are sold as “Amaryllis” at Christmas time, and I think it is better suited to cultivation in pots.
6. Cyrtanthus (species? hybrid?)
This plant grew from seed that I purchased as Cyrtanthus stenanthus, but it appears to have been mislabeled. It seems to want grow in winter/spring and goes dormant in hot weather.
Six on Saturday is hosted by The Propagator. Head over there to see his Six for this week and to find links to the blogs of other participants.
Sweetgum and Pines 
What a wonderful selection of unusual plants!
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I should very much enjoy having a look around your greenhouse. So many fantastic plants. I’ve often been tempted by the supposedly easy to grow hardy hybrid Cypripediums (Frosch et al) but they’re a lot of money for a tiny plant and I’m afraid I’d lose them.
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Have you grown other terrestrial orchids? If not, Bletilla or some of the hardy Calanthes are good for cutting your teeth. My (very limited) experience with Cypripediums suggests that small rhizomes can rapidly grow large plants, but if they’re really small they can be kept in pots initially. I maintained (and bloomed) a Cypripedium parviflorum var makasin for a number of years in a pot with a mix of charcoal and perlite. Unfortunately, it was of northern origin and succumbed to the heat when I moved from Michigan to North Carolina.
I recently managed to get hold of C. pubescens var pubescens and C. kentuckiense at a reasonable-ish price. They should be more heat tolerant, so fingers crossed.
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Three months away and what a return! All beauties, all new to me. I may not remember their names, but I am sure I remember their loveliness. 🙂
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What great photos and beautiful exotic plants, to me! Do these plants have common names or are they too foo-foo for that? Where in the world do you buy them?
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Glad you liked the photos and plants. Some of them have made-up common names, but they’re better known by the Latin. E.g. the Hippeastrum is supposedly called a Barbados lily, but it isn’t from Barbados and I have never actually heard anyone use that name
As for where I got them..1 was from a local orchid nursery; 2, 4, and 5 were trades with other plant geeks; 3 was from a nursery owner who gave a talk and sold plants at a Triangle Orchid Society meeting; 6 was seed I bought from brazilplants.com
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Oh my, I will have to look and see if there is an Orchid Society here. I am near Charlotte. Those plants really are the most beautiful! All of them!
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I think the NC Piedmont orchid society is in your neck of the woods.
https://m.facebook.com/ncpos/
If you are ever in the Raleigh area, check out The Orchid Trail nursery near RDU airport.
https://www.orchidtrail.com
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Ok, I will thanks! PS I have a giant giant giant sweetgum tree in my Woodland Garden. If I had even a dime for every gumball I have picked up I’d be rich!
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What a nice selection this week … This paph is beautiful, such a beautiful globose flower compared to the one I grow here. I was interested in the Utricularia that I didn’t know. Carnivorous plant? I don’t know this type of carnivorous plant; different from the ones I knew so far, thanks for sharing.
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The terrestrial utricularias are different than other carnivorous plants, because they are grown for their flowers, not their carnivorous traps, Here’s a FAQ about them.
http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq5583.html
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Thank you for the link. We understand why it is difficult to see them flower in pots.
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Welcome back! Fascinating selection as always. So different to nearly everything else we see on #SixOnSaturday.
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The dendrobiums that used to be commonly grown as big perennials in Los Angeles were always weirdly bright colors. Although I enjoyed growing them, I did not like the colors much. The two that I brought back here with me were bright orangish red, and bright bubble gum pink. I grew them as houseplants here, sothey slowly deteriorated, until they finally died in the move. I always figured that I could replace them, but now they are uncommon. A white one that blooms on such nice stems as yours would be rad. I still do not have the home for one, so it does not matter anyway.
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