Phrag besseae

[gnathaniel]

My only Phrag, bought dirt-cheap at a show in spring 2011. The vendor has a bunch of besseae clones they say are divisions of wild-collected plants, not sure if this is one of those or a seed-grown offspring. After tweaking some camera settings to back off on red saturation the color in the photo looks pretty accurate to my eye. NS is just under 7 cm and the flowers 'hunch' forward a bit, making it much more 3-dimensional in profile than the modern line-bred beauties I've seen. The fourth flower on this spike has been open about 5 days now so besseae season at my house will soon end.


Phragmipedium besseae by gnathaniel, on Flickr

 

[NYEric]

Yay besseae! I wish I could get "dirt cheap" besseaes!

 

[SlipperFan]

Hard to believe this is from wild-collected. You did a very good job with the color in this photo.

 

[Justin]

it's a keeper!

 

[gnathaniel]

Yay besseae! I wish I could get "dirt cheap" besseaes!

Me too, this one was $15 IIRC, I would unquestionably have more if they usually cost that little!

Hard to believe this is from wild-collected. You did a very good job with the color in this photo.

Thank you, Dot! The first few pictures hurt my eyes so luckily my camera allows some adjustment on the fly. The angle and depth of field make it look much flatter than in real life but I share your skepticism that it's wild-collected, maybe a selected F1 or F2 seedling.

it's a keeper!

Thanks! I definitely look forward to the next blooming. Now that I've kept it alive for a couple of years I'd like to learn how to grow it really well.

 

[Migrant13]

Very nice color and photo. Do you grow yours outside in the summer or is it too hot for that in Athens, GA?

 

[Rick]

Beautiful!!

 

[The Orchid Boy]

Lovely!

Would I do ok with a besseae? I'm doing alright with masdevallia hybrids and one was about to bloom. I'm most concerned about temperature needs.

 

[JeanLux]

Very nice one !!!! Jean

 

[gnathaniel]

Thanks everyone!

I've kept this plant inside since I 'discovered' last December that it doesn't do well in mid-30s F temperatures. From August-December 2012 it lived outside in the shade with late summer highs hitting mid-upper 90s F in the sun, supposedly somewhat cooler than we often get that time of year. I always kept the mix (pro-mix in plastic) very wet throughout the warm days, and though the plant grew very slowly it showed no obvious distress otherwise. Overall it's been really easygoing, not demanding anything extreme save an abundance of decent-quality water; municipal supplies here and in Asheville haven't caused problems though I try to flush thoroughly with distilled water 1-2x/month anyway.

OB, if you're growing Masdies and Phrag pearcei well then I doubt besseae would be much of a challenge, though you'd be well-advised to take anything I say about slipper culture with a grain of salt.

 

[Secundino]

Lovely windows and great photo. Well done!
How long does a songle flower of besseae last?

 

[eaborne]

Nice one!

 

[Erythrone]

Cute!

 

[Chuck]

Nice flower well photographed.

Chuck