Dear All This is picture of one of my Stanopea's that I took this morning. The flowers opened during the night and this morning I was waken up by its perfume. This one is Stanhopea tigrina - pale cream / dark burgundy spots and have very heavy and strong chocolate/vanilla scent, almost overbearing if more than one flowering at same time. Since its flowers only lasting no more than 3 days, I thought I'll take a picture to show you. Its not much to look at the rest of the year, but in mid summer its flowering with these beautiful huge scented flowers. Happy New Year to you all Love Lara
Oh Lara it's gorgeous!! Does it need any special care? Could I grow it indoors here in Scotland? Oh I really, really hope I can!!! Poor Ian is going to be bankrupt at this rate.
That's quite pretty Lara. Boy would I love to get a whiff of that scent, your description of it was a little too appealing Thanks for taking the time to post it for us!
Beautiful Lara, thanks for sharing. Frank, I think you need to find a way we can receive scent over the internet. Just think of the possibilities.
Oh I know. However you would have to careful what websites you visit (no pictures of skunks please ).
Thanks everyone for your kind words. I find, in our climate, growing them a little bit challenging, even though they originated in South America and I am trying, as much as I can, to match their natural habitat. The problem is they will not flower without direct sunlight - in total shade all I get nice, very green, juicy leaves but no flowers, and when I take them out to the sun, leaves get burned very quickly and they look rather uninteresting. So its forever me re-allocating them from one spot in the garden to the other. You can grow them indoor as long as there is plenty of light and the right temperature and they can be really beautiful plants. I have a few more of them and when and if they start flowering, I'll post more pictures. One called "Emerald Isle" and its flowers are green with mint perfume. Another one have pale lemon flowers with heavy lemon scent, then there is one with orange/red flowers and heavy "citrus" perfume, white with pure vanilla scent. Flowers are only lasts 3 - 4 days - but what a show! Wishing you all Happy and Healthy New Year - Love Lara
