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Saturday, June 14, 2008

In Bloom: Paph. niveum

Paph. niveumThis very elegant flower is a first bloom seedling of Paph. niveum that I purchased from Parkside Orchids this past spring at the DC Paph Forum. I have a few niveum plants and I very much enjoy them, although I like the brachypetalum species and hybrids in general. Many people claim that they have only a 2 year life span once reaching flowering size but I disagree. I suspect people over water them a little bit. Also brachys like their lime!

Interesting, little known fact about niveum: many of them are sweetly fragrant! Not in a knock-your-socks-off way, but in a delicate, classy way, which is in agreement with their appearance. This particular one doesn't have much fragrance. It thinks about it sometime, such that I can imagine the fragrance around it, but not enough to really be of any significance. Its still a cute little guy though!

Some day if I manage to get two in bloom at once I'll pollinate one and make exciting little seeds.

1 comment:

swamprad said...

Woohoo, love that niveum! I can't explain it, but I do love all brachys. My Doctor Jack (niveum x concolor) had 2 blooms last fall, and the second flower lasted five months: http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7585&highlight=doctor+jack