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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KyushuCalanthe" data-source="post: 290553" data-attributes="member: 2901">More flowers in the garden.  A relative of the larger North American Pogonia ophioglossioides is P. japonica.  This one is a "semi-alba" form which normally has much paler flowers.  I think they may be darker this year due to cooler than normal temperatures.<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/tvelardi/PogJaponicaAlba.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />And the Bletilla are flowering now too.  This is a pale flowered form of B. striata, perhaps the same as what you call in the west, f. rosea.  I can't read the Japanese name and haven't had my girlfriend translate it for me - probably something silly and whimsical like "soft rain heaven princess" or some such thing.  Japanese names can be really over the top and obscure.<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/tvelardi/PaleFace.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />On the right is B. ochracea from Yunnan and his buddy is B. Brigantes (B. ochracea x B. striata).  Pretty easy to grow and flower these, just like B. striata, but B. ochracea is perhaps a bit more sensitive to winter rains.<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/tvelardi/BrigantesOchracea.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />Another native in flower now is the tiny Amitostigma keiski  This is a typical flower, but many forms exist with more purple spotting, pure white ones, etc.  Not a difficult plant, but not easy either.<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/tvelardi/AmitostigmaSM.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />Finally, a lovely new hybrid Calanthe I couldn't help but buy this spring.  It is a complex hybrid using the native species, and like complex Paph hybrids, it gets difficult to tell the parentage unless you have a record.  Regardless, I love it!<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/tvelardi/EbineFancy.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></blockquote>

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