Dendrobium farmeri (2.5” pot near blooming size)

New! In full disclosure we should note that this orchid is strictly a once per year flowerer and the blooms are their peak beauty only for about a week. BUT, the compact size at maturity, the ability to generate loads of flowers, and the beautiful combination of ethereal lavender and deep yellow is altogether charming and can be breathtaking on a fully mature plant. Each evergreen cane is topped by two or three leaves and can produce multiple bloom spikes over the course of several years, even when so old that the leaves have been shed. Each pendulous inflorescence can produce between one and three dozen flowers up to two inches across. Once fully mature a bushy foot tall plant can produce hundreds of flowers at once in a jaw dropping display. Hailing from the monsoon climate in the mountains of southeast Asia, you want to give this plant moderately bright light and plenty of water and light feeding during the warmer months when it is actively growing. Then fall into winter, less water and night temperatures in the mid-50’s F or lower are needed to help stimulate bloom producing with peak flowering coming anywhere between January and June, depending on your individual conditions. A windowsill grower can still have success with this beauty if they grow it outdoors in dappled bright light from May until first frost is predicted to give it the required cool down for flowering. Blooming can be delayed until later in the spring if the plant is put back out in cool nights anytime it is above freezing. It can easily tolerate anything between 35 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit.