Orchid question

Probably a cattleya which is a family of epiphytic orchids from Central and Southern America.
As for sources of growing medium, if you have a Garden Centre near you specialising in house plants, I would give them a call

Many thanks Andrew for your reply. Regarding the orchid compost, the only orchid compost on sale at my local (large & well stocked) garden centre is not like the small pieces of wood bark you see orchids growing in but more like ordinary compost, but it is indeed very open. I'm sure it will be OK but I would rather have had the same growing medium as I described. Oh well, time will tell!
Once again thanks.

I'm certain you are correct in suggesting the name cattleya . . . . looking on the internet the flowers of this kind of plant are the same as we saw.

Hi Stu - the best people to give you advice and for you to buy the right type of growing medium for your Cattleya are Burnham Nurseries in Devon. Go to http://www.orchids.uk.com/contact.htm.
They exhibit at all the major Shows and win medals! I've visited them and bought some of my orchids there, too. They really know their stuff! They do mail order.

hi Stu, not an expert on all Orchids but i do know a thing or two about phalaenopsis orchids which are the type that you see everywhere with this bark in the pot, - the reason for this is in the wild they don't grow in the ground, they grow from trees, the big roots that hang out of the pot (air roots) attatch them to the trees, so i think the reason this type is grown in bark is because it is nearest to its natural environment! a lot of other types of orchids do grow in the ground so therefore the type of compost you have is ideal! - the ground growing ones generally don't do that well in the bark anyway, they do better in the compost you have. - good luck with it!

majeekahead - Thankyou for your reply. We bought 4 orchid bulbs in Madeira. 1 Cattleya, 2 Codonopsis and the other bulb . . . . oh dear, I can't remember, but I think another Codonopsis ! They were all large bulbs. None of them were Phalaenopsis, as my wife has 4 of these already. As you say these are indeed growing in bark and are thriving, flowering their heads off for months at a time. However we have been told to treat them differently when they finish flowering. The nursery where we bought them said cut the stem down to just above the bottom joint. Somebody else said count down 6 joints then cut above that. The Orchid nursery in Madeira said not to cut the stem down at all ! We have cut the stem down to just above the lowest joint and the plants eventually throw out another flowering shoot from near the base. All good fun !

yes stu you have done right, you should cut a Phalaenopsis down to just above the first node. i had one which repete flowered for 8 months solid because i did this. although i suspect it will now stay dorment for a while to recover. but the flowers were well worth the wait! to be honest don't know much about the orchids that you have bought from Madeira there not ones i have grown myself but i do know that there are so many different types of orchid that like different conditions - if they naturally grow in the ground i would put them into compost rather than bark. - good luck will be interesting to see your photos once they grow.