Stanhopea reichenbachiana

[Happypaphy7]

Happy New Year!!

This large seedling (near bloom size) started an inflorescence in early November. They tend to dive into the potting media as they develop. I didn’t want that to happen for me for ease of care, so I placed its plastic tag underneath it so it would grow along over it.
Once it reached over the edge of the pot (basket, actually), I removed the tag.
The next day, the inflorescence made a sharp downward turn.

The flower buds appeared last week and the buds started to swell up big fast. Shot taken on Tuesday.
Early Thursday morning at around 6:30 the buds popped open, and shortly after, the entire room was filled with sweet scent similar to hyacinth.
Each flower is about the size of my hand.
Unfortunately, the flowers started to wilt the next day.

 

[Greenpaph]

Congratulations! Can you give us a front view please?

 

[TyroneGenade]

The plastic tag idea is genius! Thanks for sharing.

 

[GuRu]

Happy New Year, too.
Stanhopeas have so extravagant flowers, always great to see them.

 

[Ozpaph]

is that an albanistic form or usual colour?

 

[BrucherT]

Happy New Year!!

This large seedling (near bloom size) started an inflorescence in early November. They tend to dive into the potting media as they develop. I didn’t want that to happen for me for ease of care, so I placed its plastic tag underneath it so it would grow along over it.
Once it reached over the edge of the pot (basket, actually), I removed the tag.
The next day, the inflorescence made a sharp downward turn.

The flower buds appeared last week and the buds started to swell up big fast. Shot taken on Tuesday.
Early Thursday morning at around 6:30 the buds popped open, and shortly after, the entire room was filled with sweet scent similar to hyacinth.
Each flower is about the size of my hand.
Unfortunately, the flowers started to wilt the next day.

View attachment 31479 View attachment 31480 View attachment 31481 View attachment 31482 View attachment 31483

Stanhopea is always incredible! Well done!

 

[tomp]

I love Stanhopea and have several. They remind me of sea creatures like a giant squid. Here is my Stanhopea tigrina which is usually the first to bloom for me (Sept-Oct). While the blooms usually only last for a few days there are huge, often several at a time and the wonderful fragrance fills the greenhouse.

 

[BrucherT]

You inspire me….

 

[My Green Pets]

Beautiful pure white and hyacinth fragrance! Sounds wonderful. Hopefully in the future you will get multiple spikes and can enjoy them opening over the course of several weeks.

 

[tomp]

GP, actually my tigrina is a huge specimen size (12 inch basket) and usually has 4 or 5 spikes with multiple flowers per and does bloom over time for several weeks. It’s kind of amazing to watch the buds swell and the all of a sudden POP with enough energy you can actually hear the sound if your anywhere nearby.

 

[NYEric]

Truly great plants. Thank for sharing everyone.

 

[DrLeslieEe]

HP…. Where do you grow such a big plant? And how do you keep it moist indoors constantly?

 

[Happypaphy7]

Congratulations! Can you give us a front view please?

Sorry I did not take any more pictures and the flowers only lasted one day in pristine conditions. Starting day two, the petals were already losing substance and only the lip was still looking alright. By the day three, the flowers were withered down almost entirely.

 

[Happypaphy7]

is that an albanistic form or usual colour?

Is there an albanistic form? This one is a standard form, and while the flowers look white, there are numerous dark purple fine spots on the backside of the petals and parts of the lip as shown in the photos. At a glance in person, they do look pure white, though.

 

[Happypaphy7]

Beautiful pure white and hyacinth fragrance! Sounds wonderful. Hopefully in the future you will get multiple spikes and can enjoy them opening over the course of several weeks.

Oh, yeah, that is the ultimate goal and fun of growing Stanhopea! This is a first bloom baby, but unfortunately, growing these into a decent clump at home would be a challenge. At least for me. I don't want to deal with caring for them. So, I would have to keep the plant in a manageable size for me. Any larger division would be given away.

 

[Happypaphy7]

GP, actually my tigrina is a huge specimen size (12 inch basket) and usually has 4 or 5 spikes with multiple flowers per and does bloom over time for several weeks. It’s kind of amazing to watch the buds swell and the all of a sudden POP with enough energy you can actually hear the sound if your anywhere nearby.

tigrina has such a cool looking lip, together with the column, they look like a claw!

 

[Happypaphy7]

HP…. Where do you grow such a big plant? And how do you keep it moist indoors constantly?

Well, it is a baby plant blooming for the first time actually. The length is almost as long as my arm, so yeah, it does stand quite tall already.
It is potted in 4inch plastic basket with bark and moss top dressing. I dunk it in water twice a week and mist on the moss daily. Pretty normal routine for me. Once it gets to a certain size though, it would be a different story. lol

 

[abax]

Beautiful, exotic Triffids!

 

[Tom-DE]

A nice genus to have in any collection. Congrats!