Japanese orchids from Kusamono Gardens

I didn't know about this vendor, but I saw a post in another forum. Here is a link to Kusamono Gardens ("Kusamono" is the herbaceous side-kicks of Bonsai).

They have quite a few Japanese orchids, which are popular in Japan, but not too common in the US:
Pecteilis radiata (2 varieties + wild type)
Spirants sinensis
Ponerorchis graminifolia
Bletilla striata
Amitostigma kinoshitae
A. keiskei
One Amitostigma hybrid.
Pogonia japonica

They are around $10-15. Just in case some of you are looking for those species.

 

Marni, I just placed an order (Amitostigma, Pogonia, and Spiranthes) earlier today. A couple people in Orchid Board have gotten Pecteilis radiata from them, so I think that it is a valid vendor. My order confirmation email says that they are Seattle, WA based (the web page didn't have the information about the physical location).

 

According to Tom (Botany Boy of SlipperTalk), they are likely to be import from Shikoku Garden, which is a reputable nursery. The nursery is near my parents' house.
This is the link to the wholesale list of Shikoku Garden. Their list for domestic sales has much more species, but there are still many cool terrestrial species. I will contact Kusamono Gardens to see if they can import others next year.

 

No, they don't, tong. Seed Engei just sent out a new price list 2 days ago. There are good stuff. You can email Satomi <[email protected]> to get on the list.

My order from Kusamono Gardens got shipped! I'll see if I can grow those. They might get more different species next year, and I hope it will happen!

 

I've gotten the plants from Kusamono Gardens about 10 days ago, and they are all in good condition! Since they are relatively new vendor, I thought that some of you may be interested in how the condition of the plants are. I communicate with the owner, and he is hoping that he can get more species next year. I'm very satisfied.

The top photo of each species is from the time I received (April 7), the bottom photo shows that they all started to grow (April 16). I was a little worried about the black shoots of Amitostigma, but they were all ok.

Pogonia japonica



Spiranthes sinensis



Ponerorchis graminifolia



Amitostigma keiskei



Amitostigma kinoshitae

 

Fumiaki, I've never grown these species (except Poneorchis), so I don't know their culture yet. I think Pogonia japonica is in sphag:medium perlite=1:1 in water tray shared with carnivorous plants (Heliamphora and Drosera). Poneorchis is in Med. perlite:sphag:fine bark=2:1:1. Others are in Med. perlite:sphag:fine bark=1:1:1. Pumice/Kanuma based media is commonly used in Japan, but I don't have access to those. Here is some info about Japanese books (since it isn't relevant to non-javanese readers): 東京山草会ラン・ユリ部会から出てる、ふやして楽しむ野生ラン、にいっぱい情報が入ってるよ。東京山草会の小型野生らんを楽しむ―人気の野生種・園芸種100余種と育て方 (別冊趣味の山野草)もいいけど、ふやして楽しむ野生ランのほうがいいよ。アマゾン.jpから買えれるよ。

 

I lost Pogonia japonica quickly, but all others flowered a couple weeks ago. Well, it is easy to flower the first year because the flowers are due to good culture by the vendor. Hopefully, I can keep them for next year.

Amitostigma keiskei


Amitostigma keiskei on Flickr


Amitostigma keiskei on Flickr


Amitostigma keiskei on Flickr

Amitostigma kinoshitae

Amitostigma kinoshitae on Flickr


Amitostigma kinoshitae on Flickr


Amitostigma kinoshitae on Flickr

I put Ponerorchis graminifolia photos on a separate thread, but here is one photo:

Ponerorchis graminifolia on Flickr

Spirants sinensis is the last one to flower, but I haven't taken photos yet.

 

Marni pointed out that her friend thought that A. kinoshitae could be potentially miss-ID. Until then, I didn't look into the flowers, but she is right; the lip shape of my plant is cupped, and quite different from the typical flowers of this species. I think that this is called Hotei-zaki. Or it is called Hotei-koanichidori (koanichidoir is a Japanese name of this species). Hotei is a Chinese monk with a big clothe bag from long time ago (link to wikipedia). So the lip looks like a bag/slipper. I'll need to check more, but one website mentions that it is from Niigata Prefecture. It is supposed to be a well-known variety.

Here is an example:
コアニチドリ：小阿仁千鳥布袋咲き | The blog of meraki

It is interesting that the photo in Shikoku Garden is the regular type. I have one which didn't flower this year. I wonder if I'll get Hotei or regular kind.

Sometimes, this species is supposed to make new baby plants (bulbils? keiki?) from the spent flower shoot. I'll see if mine will do it.

 

Cool! You should post photos! There are lots of variations, so it is fun to see all!

 

And here is the last one to flower from this purchase: Spiranthes sinensis.

A link to a great article about this species by Tom (botany boy): A beautiful orchid “weed”, Spiranthes sinensis

Indeed, it is a beautiful "weed"!


Spiranthes sinensis on Flickr


Spiranthes sinensis on Flickr


Spiranthes sinensis on Flickr


Spiranthes sinensis on Flickr

I've been trying my new, cheap macro lens (M.Zuiko 30mm/f3.5 Macro) for the 1st and 3rd photos above. 60mm is easier to work, but 30mm is an amazing bargain.

 

Chuck, I got the tuber this spring (as noted in the beginning of this thread), so I don't know the culture yet. There is fair amount of information in Japanese sites and books. So I'm trying to follow these. It is practically a weed in nature, but they say that keeping it for a long time in cultivation isn't as easy as expected. Here are a couple info from these sites.

They have rounder, smaller leaves close to the ground in the winter (you can see above in #10), and taller skinnier summer leaves, which appears from the middle of the winter leaves. After the summer leaves, the winter leaves dies (as you can see in the photo in #18). Then the inflorescence appears from the middle of the summer leaves. This change from winter leaves to flowering happened really rapidly. The next step is that winter leaves appear from the side of the summer leaves in the fall. So it will stay green all year long.

Sunny place for the entire year. Moist media. I water when the surface dries (but inside is still moist). Keep it moist in the winter, too. It can handle a bit of freezing. I'm using Medium Perlite:crumbly cheap sphagnum moss: Miracle-Gro Orchid Potting mix (the medium bark one with peat and fertilizer in it)=2:1:1. But whatever with good drainage seems to be ok. Other people use 100% kanuma, 100% sphag, or Akadama+sand.

It is supposed to be easy to seed propagate without flasking. I'll see if mine will set seeds. They say that the seeds mature rapidly in 1 month after flowering, so you have to pay attention to it.