For many years these delightful little hardy orchids, Ponerorchis graminifolia , were almost unobtainable here in Britain. Some forms are rare in their natural habitat but hybridisation and selection has become quite an art in Japan where many fine forms have been developed. Until recently the exquisitely... Read more..

Here's a view of our daily routine. In our greenhouse we water the orchids and spray the floors and pipes to keep it humid. We get the whole greenhouse team to help and it doesn't take long. Also we weed the plants whenever it is needed, pollinate to get seed and get plants ready for shows. Most... Read more..

To take orchid seedlings to South Africa we need to get an import certificate from the South African department of Agriulture, Forestry and Fisheries, and then a phytosanitary certificate to show that the plants are healthy.Our import permit has arrived today. Read more..

This is one of our real favourites. Coelogyne cristata comes from the Himalayas and we grow this plant cool with a minimum of 10 degrees C. The recent trip to Sikkim found this species growing at about 1500m in monsoon forest. It flowers for us in March and April. Read more..

This is me (Zoe B) replating Laelia purpurata in the flow cabinet. This involve taking plants out of a large jar and splitting them up to put them into smaller jars.Everything has to stay sterile so I am working in the flow cabinet for clean air, bleach to clean the working area and my gloves, and ethanol... Read more..

We think that there are at least fifty orchid species in flower in the school greenhouse on any day in the year so we have decided to pick out one every week to share with you. This week is easy as the greenhouse is dominated by the flower spikes of Cymbidium tracyanum with its large fragrant flowers... Read more..

As you can see the new Writhlington School Orchid house is coming on really well. The thermal screening is in and the electrics are all installed including the fans which arrived this week. The growing area is a total of 200 square metres. Our grand opening will be in July 2010 and everyone is invited... Read more..

If you like Eulophia speciosa you will love Eulophia cucullata. We spotted this as we left the Harold Johnson Reserve north of Durban. The flower spike was 60cm tall with these lovely flowers. We have compared it to photographs in books and our plant had much deeper brown colour on the reflexed petals... Read more..

In South Africa we were really impressed by the terrestrial orchids we found growing in tropical grassland. One in particular, Eulophia speciosa , was actually quite easy to spot growing on roadside verges a bit like all the Pyramidal orchids you can see along the verges of the M5 motorway north of Bristol... Read more..

Well the tropical weather of Durban is a distant memory and the great new friends we made are 6000 miles away. We will never forget the amazing time we had but it's back to work in the Writhlington Labs. Here we are at Tuesday's Lab Club, sowing seed of Epidendrum radicans (the pod split in the... Read more..