As we come to the end of September, and certainly here in the UK the weather doesn’t just embrace Autumn (Fall if you’re over the pond) but roll around in the rain and mud (so much mud) with it. Most of the plants outdoors are now either dying down or dying off.
That said – one quick piece of British botany I did find a massive patch of red valerian (Centranthus ruber) next to a main road after I’d found it in a display garden (thus labelled) the day earlier. Never realised it was an invasive.
My cool growing Masdevallia orchids however are cheering right up. In the humid (60-90%) air of my growspace as they get the cooler nights they love, things begin to flower. I have had some blooms in the previous months, but mostly from the warm growing species like the Masdevallia lata and an unknown hybird (gratuitous shots on twitter). I’m really looking forward to some of my other often younger plants flowering this winter. Starting off early are the three species below; Masdevallia striatella, Masdevallia nidifica and the amazingly vibrant Masdevallia infracta.
The infracta flowered late into the spring and early summer and is shown on the blogs banner but its absolutely amazing to see it again with its bright purple swirls and yellow tendrils.
The striatella looks great although I’ve not had it long. Hoping to get much more from it.
In comparison to the other two, the nidifica looks almost dowdy but I love its almost alien like flower buds and subtle colouring.
Side note:
Masdevallias are all members of the pleurothallis alliance of orchids. The UK pleurothallid alliance had their AGM a few weekends ago, but typically of UK orchid growers, they have no website, don’t use facebook and made almost no mention of the fact. By the time I knew it was on, I’d made other plans. Its probably a subject for another post, but I really do despair of UK orchid groups and growers for a total lack of engagement with prospective members. The USA has a much better culture of growers where as the UK suffers from clique groups of usually elderly members. /me breaths and goes back to looking at plants.