Friday Orchid Blogging

4 minutes to spare....



Brassavola Little Stars, a cross of B. nodosa x cordata.

And yes, this photo is of my plant currently in bloom. It's a wonderfully smelly little thing. Honestly, the smell is almost intolerable to me - it's very citrusy, but incredibly so, with only 3 flowers (another 12 flower buds are on their way), and the thing wafts at you from a good 6 feet away, plus. If the other 12 flowers bloom at once, I'm a dead man. The scent only comes out at night, during the day you smell nothing. One of the parents is B. nodosa, called "The Lady of the Night" because it too only gives off a scent at night.

Still, it's a very pretty plant, not hard to grow, likes to get really wet then dry out, then water it again in a few days after it dries. I found this one a bit hard to bloom, have had it for 2 years, it finally is blooming now and giving me a ton of them, so the wait was worth it. This is a very high light orchid - it wants as much sunlight as you can give it for as long as you can give it (unless it starts burning, then stop). So, you don't want this plant unless you have a southern exposure in the winter, can put it outside in the summer and winter, or have plant lights inside. Anyway, it's a keeper.

You can see how the entire plant looks here - this second photo isn't my plant, mine is a bit smaller, but you get the idea.