Calanthe rubens

At least that is my tentative ID. If anyone has any thoughts let me know. I have enoyed growing the evergreen calanthes for many years, but only recently have begun to appreciate the deciduous calanthes. I have grown several rather badly for a number of years. I'm doing a better job of keeping them dry once the loose their leaves and started bringing them in the house once they start to spike and find they last for a couple of months. I can see why they were a big craze in Victorian England. This was a rescue from a collection about 6 years ago and was labeled C vestita.

 

Kelly, I don't remember when it bloomed last year and that was probably the first time it bloomed for me. I thought they all bloomed before the new growth starts.

 

Kelly, my Calanthe vestita var rubro-oculata is on the same schedule as this one and just finished blooming a few weeks ago.

 

Carkin, they are beautiful when they're grown well. This one is in the same fine bark mix that I use for most of my plants. The mix is 6 parts fine bark, 4 parts pumice, and 1.5 parts medium tree fern fiber. I've also grown them in a light terrestrial mix. As soon as the leaves drop in the fall, I stopped watering them. They remain in the greenhouse in a dry rest area where they get an occasional misting or spritz of water. Once the spikes are up and showing buds, I bring them in the house. They sit in in very bright, indirect morning sun and don't get watered at all. The humidity is not particularly high in the room so they really are dry. The flowers will actually last a couple of months. Once the new growth starts to come up I resist the temptation to water, and keep resisting it until the new growth is maybe 5 inches tall. Then I will probably water it once and leave it until the new growth has grown some more. After that I put it back in the greenhouse and start watering it normally. I don't separate the bulbs at this point since I'm just starting to get some nice looking bulbs after two years of better conditions. I've recently imported a couple of species that came in dormant and have left them un-potted and now as they are starting to get growth and I have potted them up.

You may be right about extra fertilizer in the growing season. I think that's true of most plants from a monsoon climate where the growing season is short. I will probably add Nutricoa when I start watering them.

 

I think that it is a really under appreciated genus and hope to produce some from seed. I have capsules on Calanthe vestita var rubro-oculata as my first attempt.