Dendrobium cuthbertsonii
14th June 2019
Swayed by the tented romance of the Malvern Orchid Festival I have finally grasped the miniature madness of Dendrobium cuthbertsonii.
It is a tiny species from high in the mountains of New Guinea growing in cool to cold conditions. Like many before me I have taken that to
mean it might be possible to grow it in a cold greenhouse. I will overlook the fact that it also gets very warm on top of the mountains
in New Guinea during the daytime and that it doesn't experience a long winter of low temperatures. I will ignore those aspects and give it a try
(after many years of prevarication).
It comes in a range of colours from deep red through orange, pink, yellow, white and every bicolour that you can imagine. Mine is unknown,
unflowered, cheap and doomed. Like many before me, I will fail. Better to have loved and lost than still have the twenty quid (or something like than).
31st December 2020
It is well known to be a troublesome species so I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised when it produced a flower bud at the start of December. The plant survived a very mild winter last
year - this winter is not looking quite so benign.