The flowers have a bit of oriental feel to them, displaying interesting color of bronze/ yellow and a touch of green with wide white/red middle and the whole effect of the blooms have very pleasing to the eye combination. It also have very nice light scent that is difficult to describe, it smells of “freshness” – crisp, clean and bright.

Some time ago I purchased couple of seedlings of this orchid hopping to see unusual flower and this season it’s flowering first time. The plant is still small and as it matures I expect to see more of these interesting and special blooms.

All of my natives grow outside under the shade of the trees and exposed to all elements, they don’t get any special treatments – just an occasional watering during hot summer months, other than that they are very tough and enjoy all kind of weather. In nature they grow attached to the trees or on the rocks and used to surviving harsh weather making them ideal orchids to grow for the beginner.

They are rather un-complicated , have the beauty all of their own and every year, in early spring put up a show and a display heralding the new growing season.

I’ve just returned from my trip to Far North Qld, been away for a while visiting this beautiful part of the world. Took many trips and excursions and seen many natural wonders of that protected World Heritage area. Learned so much from passionate people and local guides who really care and preserve this delicate environment and was given an opportunity to share in their knowledge and wisdom.

Seen whales frolicking in the ocean and crocodiles in Proserpine river, visited some sacred Aborigines sites and learned about healing properties of many native plants, seen beautiful native orchids growing in canopies of trees in Daintree river and was introduced to many species of birds and animals that are at home in these protected areas. Walked in the rainforests that are thousands years old and learned many old legends, as old as the “time” itself. Tried many exotic foods and fruits and seen the beauty of the Great Barrier Reef in all it’s splendor.

Met many local and native guides and shared their knowledge and experiences, legends and stories, promised Tui of Daintree River Cruise Centre to thank him via this blog for his passionate love of the Daintree river and for manuvering and taking the boat so much closer to the edges so that I can look at the plants and orchids, while snakes were resting on the overhead branches and crocodiles lurking in the water below. The local guides and local guided commentary is so important on the trip like that and all these people share such passion and love of the area, delicate eco-system and their real love for environment. There is so much healing energy in that part of the world, energy that is bold, uncompromising, sacred, primeval, majestic, spectacular, unusual, unchanged, confident and I feel enormous privilege to be able to share and experience that healing energy.

Winter in our part of the world is cymbidium orchids flowering time and this beautiful cymbidium Henri Choo is currently blooming in my greenhouse. It’s one of the novelty cymbidiums that have a lot of splashes and stripes on it’s petals. At the moment it’s one of the “collector’s items” but I am sure that in the near future it will be available everywhere.

There is definite trend in cymbidium orchids and current one is to have many stripes and different blotches on the blooms and “Henri Choo” splendidly represents this trend.

It’s parentage is Enzan Shining x Death Wish and the blooms have this oriental appearance to them, the color predominantly orange/bronze with many markings with large lip slightly lighter color and the whole effect displayed as if been painted by a paint brush. Another beautiful creation by a breeder who can see so much potential in both parents.

My plant is only a couple of years old, I got it some time ago as seedling and it’s interesting for me to discover it’s beauty and it’s potential. It’s been growing strong and this season “Henri Choo” started to show off it’s beauty – large, bold blooms, unusual markings and strong, vigorous plant with repeat flowering – another winner for cymbidium world of orchids.

Coelogyne genus currently consist of about 150 different species, native to India to the Pacific Islands and as far north as southern China and the Philippines. They grow in the habitats from sea level to the high mountains and prefer semi-shade conditions and situations and in our climate quite happy to grow outside under the shade of the trees.

They are one of the easiest orchids to grow and to bring to flower and can grow quite quickly into large, bulky plants producing many sprays of sweetly scented blooms. They can also be planted in hanging baskets to show off their special flowers.

My plant is var “Wild One” native to Vietnam where it grows at moderate to high altitudes. It have upright inflorescence that usually develops from the new growth and have fragrant flowers, each about 8cm across. I’ve been growing it quite a few years now, it’s quite constant performer and lives up to it’s name, I divide it every couple of years and many of my friends share the beauty of the “Wild One” now.

Right now earlier flowering varieties started to show their flowers and one of them this cymbidium Night Angel. It’s parents “Sylvania” x “Something Fabulous” and it looks like a very interesting cross. The flowers predominantly pink with slight stripes and a bit of luminous quality to them offset by darker velvety middle – very nice combination.

I got a couple of small seedlings of this variety some time ago and this is it’s first flowering, so only a few blooms on each flower spike this season, but it looks like “Night Angel” will be another beautiful addition to my cymbidium orchid collection.

Dondurma is the Turkish word for ice cream and salep is the whitish flour milled from the dried tubers of wild, terrestrial orchids grown through Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor. Local people collect the orchid tubers for this uniquely Turkish delicacy and this dessert made from tubers flour, milk and sugar. The frozen mixture then beaten with metal rods until it’s very elastic in texture and can be eaten with a knife and fork. The taste – slightly sweet, nutty, subtle earthy and comes in many flavors – apricot, pistachio, peach, vanilla, red currant and many others.

Originally, salepi dondurma was mixed by hand. It was then pounded to a smooth consistency with metal rods, and then stretched by hand. These days gelato machines used for freezing and mixing, but the final product is still beaten and kneaded with metal rods for some time, to achieve the proper degree of elasticity.

This delicacy, I was told, also have unique medicinal properties and according to Gioscorides, Greek Physician from First-Century AD and other more recent experts in this field, salepi dondurma can ” heal the spleen, prevent cholera and tuberculosis, facilitate childbirth, stop your hands and feet from shaking, prevent getting lump on your back, keep your chest soft, heal bronchitis and used as an aphrodisiac when needed.” For many years now I’ve been evaluating long-term benefits of wild orchids ice-cream and look for it anytime opportunity presents itself.

Ahh, but perhaps the best medical advice about the properties of salepi dondurma I received from colorful ice-cream vendor in Istanbul all these years ago – “it will cure those who mentally fallen crazy in love”… No comment.

Here is a short video showing traditional serving of ice-cream by Turkish ice-cream vendors:

There are many hundreds of handsome hybrids made with Oncidium orchids and with closely to them related genera. Some of them quite complex and complicated and this is one of them. It’s Onc. Chrysomorphum x Oda. (Cherubino x Wearside Pattern) and it’s currently in flower.

My orchid flowers at the end of our autumn/ early winter with masses of bright, yellow/orange blooms with many long flowering arching spikes that about 50 cm long. It’s slightly fragrant, just a hint of cinnamon , not overpowering and very pleasing. It’s always nice to see vibrant flamboyant colors in autumn and winter and I get my “color therapy” fix from this one.

Despite its complicated background it’s quite easy to cultivate and to bring it to flower, it like well-drained bark mix and plenty of moisture during warm weather with less watering during colder months. It can be mounted on tree-fern slabs or cork mounts.

It’s another beautiful orchid to have in one’s collection that rewards with exotic, special, colorful, flamboyant blooms.

The flowers stay on the plant for about three weeks or so and many new flower spikes develop during it’s flowering time, giving an opportunity to really enjoy this beautiful and special creation.

Odontoglossum nobile native to clouded forests of Colombia, found in an high elevation of 2400m and in our climate perfectly suited to greenhouse cultivation – it needs moderate light, dry conditions between watering and free flowing orchid compost so it can drain freely. Odm. nobile have pristine white large blooms and this variety of Full Moon x Tiffany displaying larger ( 8.5cm) and more colorful flowers.

It’s another beautiful orchid that easy to cultivate for experienced orchid grower as well as beginner and will reward year after year with it’s special, majestic scented blooms.

Sharri Baby is one of the most famous of the Oncidium hybrids ( Jamie Sutton x Honolulu) and “Sweet Fragrance” lives up to it’s name, it’s one of the best known fragrant orchids on the market today. It’s very generous in it’s growing habit, producing many new bulbs and leaves and flower spikes during it’s growing season and can get quite large specimen in short period of time. This never a problem to me – I just divide it and share it with friends and other orchids growers and collectors.

It’s one of the easiest orchids to grow for the beginners – it likes a lot of water during it’s growing time and to be a little bit drier when it’s resting, in our climate it’s quite happy to grow outside under the shade of the trees, but in colder climates it loves sunny window situation. It have large pseudobulbs that will shrivel if the plant not getting enough moisture, indicating optimum growing requirements.

The original Sharri Baby hybrid have chocolate/vanilla scented flowers and Sharri Baby “Sweet Fragrance” beautiful “sour cherry” scented blooms and if you ever wanted to grow an orchid or two, give them a go – they easy and will reward you with their special fragrant blooms.