Looking for Pleione and hardy orchids.

[Paul Cumbleton]

If you are new to Pleiones I would not recommend that you start with P. hookeriana as this is one of the most difficult species to cultivate. Go for any of the hybrids. A good one I always recommend to start with is Pleione Britannia 'Doreen' which is particularly vigorous. If you still nevertheless want to get P. hookeriana, you can get it from Burnham Nursery http://www.orchids.uk.com/paradise.htm - but expect very small, possibly not flowering size bulbs.

Paul

[Maren]

I have a few Pleione hookeriana, which flowered for the first time last year, very rewarding, have had them for three years and lost quite a few. But I seem to have cracked it now and they increased slightly last year. If you're interested, email me at mtalbot@talktalk.net.

But I agree with Paul's suggestion. If you are fairly new to pleiones, P. Britannia 'Doreen' is really rewarding and a very pretty plant to start with. Mine are now beginning to grow and I have raised temperatures slightly (min 5 degrees C) to get them to flower for the London Orchid Show at the end of March.

Or you could try one of the autumn flowering ones, such as Pleione praecox. This is another great favourite of mine. I particularly like the wonderful scent. If kept cool, it will flower for three weeks. And they multiply quite reliably. I have a fairly large collection of praecox from different sources, all flowering at different times. This year I was treated to P. praecox and its perfume from October to Christmas.

[Alex]

Maren, can I ask what minimum temperature you give your praecox? Do you give it a little more heat than most?

Alex

[Maren]

Sorry I am so late in replying. Broke my right arm at the London Orchid Show which sort of put the spanner in the works. While I was having a party at the hospital (well, not really), my friends built the display for me, using my plants and materials and - I got a silver medal!!!

Coming back to your question, I give some of my Pleione praecox a little more heat, just a couple of degrees, but I'm not sure that they need it, just ran out of space in the pleione house. Light is what they want and lots of food and water. Mine are growing really well this year.

[Maggi Young]

Oh, Maren, what a disaster! Mind you, the silver medal must have cheered you up rather a lot.... what good chums you have, well done to them for their kindness and skills, eh?
Are you fighting fit again now? Hope so!!

[Eric Locke]

Alex

I leave my Praecox in the Greenhouse until late January ,which is only kept frost -free .I then bring then into a very cool place indoors that keeps a minimum of about 8 deg c, to get them started into growth. I do not place them back in the greenhouse until June . I have tried leaving them in the greenhouse with the majority of Pleione but find the growing season a little short and the bulbs often don"t grow well enough to flower .
Good luck

Eric

[Yang]

I do like the Disa uniflora variety of your profile pic. It's so nice, is it a big challenge to grow disas?
As to Pleiones, I suggest Pleione maculata, an antumn flower species, not so sensitive to hot summer in my opinion.

[Eric Locke]

Yang

Disa"s are not too big a challenge, but it will not tolerate anything other than rain water and very little feeding.
In the UK ,certainly, Pleione Maculata needs ,in my experience, to be grown indoors all year round if to be grown well.

Eric

[LarsB]

The Disa in my profile is uniflora 'Christmas Gold'. It's really beautiful. In my experience disa is dead easy to grow, but Disa got a reputation of being difficult. As eEric has already wirtten, the key is to use clean water, plenty of it.

Kind regards

Lars