Hyacinth Orchids, Big and Small

For years, I’ve had great success growing a Giant Hyacinth Orchid outdoors. With long, graceful leaves, it’s an elegant plant even when not in flower. But certainly, it’s at its best when it bursts into bloom. Tall stalks emerge, each boasting dozens of small, purple flowers. Every winter, this orchid reliably puts on a great show, usually lasting for months. It’s currently outside our front door, where it started blooming a few weeks ago.

After a dozen years of spectacular blooms with this plant, I spotted a closely related subspecies for sale at last year’s Pacific Orchid Expo. Some friends successfully grow this smaller Hyacinth Orchid variety in their gardens, so I decided to try it, too. I’m happy to see that Arpophyllum giganteum subspecies alpinum is just as easy to bloom as Arpophyllum giganteum. Instead of purple, it has vivid crimson flowers.

My new plant is still small, but even at its largest, this subspecies has smaller leaves __and shorter flower stalks than the purple variety. Despite these differences, these two plants are very closely related. They are considered the same, not separate, species. __and I’m very happy to have them both in the garden.

,