John M
Orchid Addict
I got this plant as a little, mable-sized tuber about 15 years ago when I joined the Toronto Gesneriad Society. As a welcome gift, I got to choose a plant off the member's sales table at their show. It was small and cute; but, it's grown to be quite large, now. The stems and leaves are covered in a thick, dense fuzz. The leaves feel like they're made of velvet. I keep it in the greenhouse and even though the stems with leaves and flowers regularly die down, I never rest the tuber. It just keeps on getting whatever the orchids around it get. Then, it will shoot up one or two new growths like this. The blooms are chock full of nectar, literally dripping from the base of the tube as the flower ages. Hummingbirds love this plant and they come into my greenhouse in the summer to take advantage of the free food. The tuber is now the size of a very large grapefruit. I'm going to finally repot it this spring and see if I can't improve on the number of stems. I'd love to get half a dozen flowering stems all at once, if that's possible.
