Orchid Man in the United Kingdom

Hello my dear readers, I would like to present you a Orchid ID for the Paphiopedilum exul, which I have recently received as a gift from my friends at OrchidGarden Nursery in Poland. First things first, this is a species orchid, which is endemic to the regions of Thailand, and warm to hot regions growing on rocks. This orchid is characteristic by it's very thick and fleshy leaves, which remind of brassavola orchids. The size of the plant is considered small to compact and very decorative, furthermore the small size of the plant is also reflected in the size of the flowers which aren't bigger than 4 cm. The first flower I have seen on this paphiopedilum when I received it was in total the size of my thumb! And it was absurdly cute! As mentioned before these slipper orchids go into the mini / compact range and look very nice both in bloom and in leaf growth stage. The flowers will show on mature fans of new growth and last for a very long time (up to 3 months each

Hello my dear readers, Today I wanted to present you with a short Orchid ID of one of my favorite orchids I own. The orchid you can see is Paphiopedilum Bidborough and it's a result of Paphiopedilum Beaufort (Seed parent) and Paphiopedilum Hancar (Pollen Parent). It's a complex hybrid which lost the initial resemblance to the species plants and any previous primary hybrids.  Here you can see the detailed family tree for this hybrid showing the last three generations. Because of this it easily adjust to growing into a modern household without any problems, and will easily grow on a windowsill (I know because I'm doing it right now! :)). The plant isn't a space saver like most of the paphiopedilum orchids are, it's more in the same league as the multi-floral paphs are, and has quite long, floppy leaves which can expend up to 30 cm each. However the issue of leaf span size influences the bloom size, as the flowers are absolutely huge.