This handsome Masdevallia ignea won the experts display in April and belongs to Bill Gardiner. He has had it for some time and it is has grown in to this spectacular specimen! Bill keeps all his masdevallia in the cool and shade putting them in the cool house in winter and outside with the cymbidiums in summer. His latest tip is to stand the pots in saucers in the shallow water left after watering to maintain the dampness required.
Unfortunately there were no expert plants displayed in March.
March’s novice table was won by Paul Eaton’s Coelogyne cristata. He keeps it in the cool house in good light all year except when it is flower. When growing he stands it in water as Malcolm Perry suggested and feeds it on Alkerne Rainmix growth when growing. As winter approaches he keeps it much drier, without food until the flower buds begin to develop when he starts to use a bloom formula.
Paul also won the novice table in April with this Cypripedium kentuckiense “Pink Blush”. He bought it from a garden centre a couple of years ago. He keeps it in the cool greenhouse too, keeping it dry in the winter after it has died down. It is fed on Rainmix bloom early in the year to encourage flowering. He later switches to growth formula to encourage the new buds for the next year. Care must be taken not to over water at any time.
