Stanhopea jenischiana

Stanhopea jenischiana, blooming in the backyard. These wonderful, waxy, fragrant orchids hail from Venezuela, Ecuador, Columbia and Peru and are fairly cool tolerant, growing outdoors in Southern California (although they prefer a nice warm greenhouse where they will grow into a specimen plant quite easily).

Stanhopea jenischiana

Stanhopea jenischiana. These orchids have sweetly fragrant, pendant flower spikes that go down through the media and are, thus, best grown in hanging baskets. They are native to Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru at around 2500-4500 ft. It's hard to nail down the fragrance but, as best I can describe, it smells like a combination of sugar, vanilla and fruit...or maybe somewhat like a creamsicle.