Wonderful Habenarias

[Clark Thomas Riley]

One of the pleasures of a long time in the hobby (67 years in my case) is seeing once-obscure genera becoming exciting mainstream. Today, I praise Habenarias and their kin. Blooms today in Baltimore (totally unavailable or unknown in 1957) include Habenarias Bird of Paradise, davidii, and janellehayneiana.

 

[NYEric]

Inorganic media?

 

[Clark Thomas Riley]

Equal parts ProMix MX/Turface/Espoma Soil Perfector/coarse perlite. The granite chips you see are a top dressing to prevent washout and mix splashing on the stem and foliage, which can cause stem rot. The granite chip mulch also keeps moisture even. So, ALMOST inorganic.

 

[tnyr5]

Davidii!!!!
I tried getting one from Hengduan but it showed up dead

 

[GuRu]

All of them very pretty !

 

[Clark Thomas Riley]

I'll see if I can self the davidii. Hengduan is where I got mine. Keep trying — they're not all that expensive. Be sure to order in Autumn with Habenarias. Too late for this year's orders. I have finetia, malintana, and tonkinensis on order this fall.

 

[NYEric]

I think Promix is a European thing.

 

[Bessie]

Interesting that even small plants bloom. I was under the impression from a recent Orchids article that these grow quite large.

 

[Clark Thomas Riley]

The ProMix I use is a Canadian product, readily available in Maryland garden centers and from Amazon.com, where mine is supplied by Ebershades in Pennsylvania. As to the Habenarioids, there are many (perhaps hundreds) small species. My favorite small ones include Habenarias xanthochila and janellehayneiana, and Pecteilis hawkesiana. Many of their hybrids also qualify for our Maryland Orchid Society showtable's Miniature class (all parts except inflorescence less than 6 inches). — https://marylandorchids.org/showtablerules2024.html