Disa cardinalis
Archive entry 03.09.17
Archive entry 29.07.18
Archive entry 23.09.18
Archive entry 18.08.19
Archive entry 16.08.20
Archive entry 18.07.21
Archive entry 31.07.22
21st March 2010
Disa cardinalis is a magnificent scarlet species that I was keen to grow. It was once considered to be a form of D.tripetaloides
but in 1980 it was identified as a distinct species by H.P.Linder. It has been widely used in hybridisation and I wanted to try the
original species.
In 2008 I bought a small plant from Germany but at the time I was still trying out a range of growing conditions and unfortunately in this case
I got it wrong.
It grows by the side of streams in the Karoo under quite extreme conditions and I am looking for another!
27th July 2017
I was able to buy five seedlings when Hildegard Crous came over from South Africa to the RHS Orchid Show in 2015.
This has been the first to flower and I have optimistically labelled it "Clone 2" in the hope that there is some variability among them.
I imagine they are seedlings raised from a single pod, so I can't see why there would be, but there's always hope.
Grows along mountain streams from 440 - 750m on the northern slopes of the Langeberg in the Western Cape.
28th August 2020