Tuesday 27 January 2009

the plastic orchid

I found this Epidendrum hybrid (known as Epicattleya Rene Marques 'Flame Thrower' HCC/AOS) at Woon Leng while shopping around for a gift for a friend who was throwing a birthday dinner party at his newly refurbished house complete with a very lush and resplendent garden. As he himself, is very much into gardening and plants, I figured that a plant would make a very appropriate gift. So I set out to find something that would be fairly unique and exotic, and this was what I ended up with.

According to the chap at Woon Leng, this hybrid is a cross between the Epi. Pseudepidendrum and the Catt. Claesiana. Although it was a tad exorbitant, the rarity and uniqueness of the blooms seemed to make up for it. Besides, it's not often that one comes across a plant with bright green flowers (other than the hydrangea, some other orchids and the calla lily) and when you pair that with a zesty burst of yellow and a spot of fuschia, you get in fact, quite a spectacular, albeit plastic-looking flower.

The last I heard, the orchid seems to be doing well and has produced new pseudostems and spiked several times. I too, managed to get a pot of my own at this year's Garden Festival but for considerably less.

No comments:

Post a Comment